Yucca Mountain workers face layoffs

Benjamin Grove

Thursday, Sept. 22, 2005 | 11:09 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- Budget cuts may force Yucca Mountain worker layoffs, the program's top contractor said.

The Energy Department, which manages the proposed nuclear waste repository project, two weeks ago informed top contractor Bechtel SAIC that it likely was facing a 30 percent budget cut, Bechtel spokesman Jason Bohne said today. The notice came in the form of an "interim budget planning guidance," a document the department sends the contractor every year so Bechtel can plan its expenditures.

Bechtel in mid-October will present the Energy Department with an answer -- specific estimates of what the proposed cut would translate to in numbers of laid-off workers, as well as the type of work that would have to be delayed, Bohne said.

Bechtel has about 1,400 workers. It's likely that "pretty close" to 30 percent of workers could face layoffs, he said.

"A 30 percent cut in the budget doesn't necessarily mean a 30 percent cut in the workforce, but you can't cut 30 percent and not have and impact on the workforce," he said.

Workers will be notified within "weeks" if they are to be laid off, Bohne said. It would more likely be a "matter of months" before they are actually laid off the job, he said.

Congress approved $571 million for Yucca Mountain for the current fiscal year. Bechtel received about $325 million, Bohne said.

President Bush proposed $651 million for Yucca in the next fiscal year, but Yucca budgets often are trimmed in Congress, due largely to the negotiating of Yucca foe Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., who also sits on the Senate Appropriations Committee.

Yucca has long suffered delays and budget setbacks. The program is under increasing scrutiny in Congress. This week, Sen. Robert Bennett, R-Utah, withdrew long-time support for Yucca, saying he no longer supported the plan to ship the nation's most radioactive waste across the country for permanent burial in tunnels under the Nevada desert ridge.

Energy Department spokesman Allen Benson said it's possible the department could impose a smaller cut on Bechtel. He said department managers proposed the 30 percent cut to Bechtel as a "planning exercise" to force Bechtel and the department to review work priorities.

"It's an evaluation of what we are doing and a question of should we be doing it," Benson said.

It's not clear how the budget cut would affect Yucca's schedule, Bohne said. The next Yucca milestone is the Energy Department's submission of an application for a license to construct the repository. Energy Department officials had said they were aiming to submit the application early next year.

But the department's acting Yucca chief Paul Golan last week announced that the department was focused more on quality work than following a strict timetable.