Thursday, March 17, 2005 | 11:04 a.m.
WASHINGTON -- Employees of the U.S. Geological Survey who were revisiting scientific study on the key issue of water flow at Yucca Mountain allegedly falsified research documents, an Energy Department review of employee e-mails revealed.
Department officials discovered the e-mails as part of a massive review of millions of program document pages in preparation for submitting an application for a license to construct Yucca.
"Multiple" e-mails written between May 1998 and March 2000 indicate that a U.S. Geological Survey employee fabricated documentation of his work, Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman said Wednesday.
The revelation, which triggered two major investigations, is a devastating blow to the Yucca program aimed at establishing a national nuclear waste repository at the desert site, Yucca critics said. It supports the state's primary scientific argument against Yucca -- that the repository could not safely isolate radioactive waste from the environment, largely because of water flow, Nevada officials said.
"This is enormous because it is literally the main artery of the state's dispute with the DOE's assertion that the repository can contain nuclear waste for a long period of time," said Joe Egan, a lawyer leading Nevada's court challenges against Yucca. "What we have here is an indication that their own data is wrong. I don't know how it can get much worse for DOE."
The documentation was part of Yucca's "quality assurance" program designed to assure the accuracy of Yucca research. The documents in question involve computer models of climate and water infiltration at Yucca, according to the Energy Department.
The Energy Department found out about the falsifications on Friday, a department spokesperson said. The department on Monday notified the Interior Department, the parent agency of U.S. Geological Survey, an Interior spokesperson said.
Energy and Interior officials declined to comment on how big a setback the false documents could be for Yucca, or on the reactions of Yucca critics.
But early evidence indicates that the problem was related solely to documenting scientific work, not to the work itself, an Interior Department source said.
It appears that there were two primary people involved in the e-mailing, but an unknown number of others received the e-mails, the source said. It is not clear to what extent managers knew about the e-mails, the source said.
The two employees are still working for the U.S. Geological Survey and were still on the job Wednesday, an Interior spokesperson said. It is not known if several newly launched investigations will result in disciplinary action for anyone involved, the spokesperson said.
Bodman called the falsification "completely unacceptable" and directed the department's inspector general to investigate. The department has already begun reviewing data and documentation related to the computer modeling, Bodman said. If that data is found to be flawed it will be replaced or supplemented with analysis that meets quality assurance standards, Bodman said.
"We are conducting a thorough review of all work completed by the identified individuals to ensure that other work was not affected," Bodman said in a written statement.
Bodman said he was "greatly disturbed" by the situation.
"The safe handling and disposal of nuclear waste and the sound scientific basis for the repository safety analysis are priorities for this administration and the Department of Energy," Bodman said. "All related decisions have been, and will continue to be, based on sound science."
Acting Energy Department Yucca director Theodore Garrish mentioned the allegations briefly at a House subcommittee hearing on the Yucca budget, but declined further comment. Garrish said the fact the department disclosed the issue showed its "commitment to doing the job right."
The department issued a news release Wednesday saying it told the Interior Department that the e-mails raise "serious questions" about the Yucca document review process.
U.S. Geological Survey officials said the agency had launched its own internal investigation and also had handed the matter to its own inspector general for action.
"Once the facts are known, appropriate actions will be taken," USGS Director Chip Groat said in a written statement. "USGS remains committed to maintaining scientific excellence."
The news brought quick rebuke from Yucca critics, who have long suspected there has been an inter-agency coordinated effort to skew data to present Yucca in a favorable light.
"There has always been this tension in the system for the Department of Energy to get the results it thinks is necessary," said Bob Loux, director of the Nevada Nuclear Projects Agency and the state's top Yucca watchdog.
Yucca critics said the news seemed to strike a blow to two important facets of the planned repository: water infiltration research and overall program quality assurance.
The issue of water flow into and out of the repository is key to how well the repository will ultimately isolate the highly radioactive waste stored permanently inside. Critics say water could be the most likely pathway for radiation to ultimately escape the repository.
"This is a foundation of the project, and it's all based on a lie, potentially," said Michele Boyd, an analyst with the watchdog group Public Citizen, which tracks Yucca Mountain.
Yucca critics, including Nevada officials and their scientists, have long been at odds with Energy Department Yucca managers over the issue of water, and how water would interact with the metal waste containers stored in Yucca tunnels. Nevada officials say water could seep into the mountain and that water would speed corrosion of the containers, perhaps within 100 years.
"This is the heart of the matter as to whether the storage of nuclear waste could be determined to be safe just 90 miles from Nevada's largest city, Las Vegas," Gov. Kenny Guinn said. Guinn said he was disappointed and outraged, "but hardly surprised."
Energy Department and nuclear industry officials say water won't travel into the repository to the extent Nevada officials argue, and that the containers won't corrode.
In November 1998 anti-Yucca groups petitioned the Energy Department to disqualify Yucca based on evidence that water moved relatively quickly through the repository, in violation of department "site suitability guidelines."
The groups noted that in 1996 and 1997 the department had discovered the radioactive isotope chlorine-36 at unnaturally high levels deep inside Yucca. The groups said that could only come from nuclear bomb blasts in the South Pacific in the 1950s and had traveled inside the mountain via rain in less than 50 years. The department essentially scrapped its suitability guideline, said Kevin Kamps, waste specialist with Nuclear Information and Resource Service.
"If you can't meet the standard, just eliminate the standard," Kamps said.
The quality assurance program is designed to verify that Yucca research -- and the documentation and evidence that supports the research -- is in proper order. The quality assurance, or "QA," program is important because the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, charged with licensing and regulating Yucca, will carefully review the quality assurance work at Yucca to determine if the Energy Department has properly verified its conclusion that Yucca is safe.
The Yucca quality assurance program has previously come under fire from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the General Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress. Energy Department officials say improvements have been made.
"This is just a big, important example of how they have kept track of data," Boyd said. "It shows just how badly their program has been managed."
The revelation Wednesday stirs new suspicion about the QA program, Yucca critics said.
"All of the scientific studies and documentation related to Yucca Mountain now must be questioned and re-evaluated," Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., said.
Nevada lawmakers in Congress who have long sought to kill the Yucca program said the new allegations were highly damaging. News of it was spreading quickly Wednesday on Capitol Hill, Rep. Jon Porter, R-Nev., said.
"I was hearing about it in every corner," Porter said. "One can assume that the Department of Energy falsified documents because they needed to. This calls into question the whole project."
Porter, chairman of the House subcommittee on federal workforce and agency organization, said he planned to hold a panel hearing April 5 to examine the allegations.
House Appropriations energy and water development subcommittee Chairman David Hobson, R-Ohio, a leading Yucca advocate in the House, said he did not think the issue was a "major impediment" and "could be corrected very easily."
"It's not going to be a 'in the heart' type of thing," Hobson said Wednesday after a Yucca budget hearing. "It's unfortunate and shouldn't have happened ... It's just sloppy work."
But Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said Wednesday's news represented evidence that the Energy Department "lies" to make Yucca look safe.
"It is abundantly clear that there is no such thing as 'sound science' at Yucca Mountain, and I'm disappointed President Bush rushed so quickly to push the project through and continues to make it a priority," Reid said.
Reid said Yucca has suffered a number of setbacks and re-iterated his stance that Yucca would never open. Reid and Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., intend to push legislation calling on the Energy Department to manage waste as it sits on-site at nuclear power plants -- not at Yucca.
"The tide is turning on Yucca Mountain," Reid said.
Ensign said he spoke to a former Energy Department undersecretary on Wednesday who said the news was "very serious" for Yucca. Ensign said Yucca seems to be continuing to "crumble." The alleged falsifications could boost the state's legal case that Yucca can't meet radiation safety standards recommended by the National Academy of Sciences, Ensign said.
Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., said she appreciated Bodman disclosing the information, but intends to ask for an independent panel review.
"If they continue to scratch the surface they will find more than a few memos," Berkley said.
In his written statement, Bodman added that the Bush administration will continue to "aggressively" continue its effort to establish the repository.
"We are committed to the safety and protection of the citizens of Nevada as we pursue the development of the Yucca Mountain project," Bodman said.
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