Lawyers discuss handling of Yucca documents

Suzanne Struglinski

Friday, Feb. 11, 2005 | 10:55 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- Lawyers on all sides of the Yucca Mountain issue met Thursday to begin discussing how to handle certain documents related to the planned nuclear waste repository.

A panel of Nuclear Regulatory Commission judges ordered attorneys late last month to find common ground on how to handle millions of pages of documents required for the License Support Network, an electronic database of Yucca documents.

Nevada's attorneys, and public interest groups opposed to the site, want access to a majority of the department's documents related to the proposed nuclear waste repository, but some will be kept from the public due to classified information or other sensitive items. The attorneys need to figure out how to handle these documents among all those involved.

"We want the maximum amount of transparency in the process," said attorney Joe Egan, who represents that state on Yucca issues. "The theory being we have nothing to hide. You have to ask yourself what's the public benefit for hiding the documents."

Egan, along with partner Martin Malsch, met with representatives of the Energy Departments and lawyers from Hutton and Williams, the firm the department hired to work on the Yucca Mountain license application, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the Nuclear Energy Institute, Public Citizen, Natural Resources Defense Council, other public groups and OMB watch, an organization that monitors federal spending.

Nevada planned to raise contentions against certain documents the department had marked as privileged. Now, everyone involved will have to agree what information deserves to be marked privileged.