Old Yucca firm joins new review

Tuesday, Feb. 13, 2007 | 7:16 a.m.

WASHINGTON - To conduct an independent review of the troubled nuclear waste dump, the Energy Department has hired a firm whose staff and board include past Yucca Mountain officials.

The firm, Henderson-based Longenecker & Associates, said that none of the former officials of the Energy Department or its main contractor, Bechtel SAIC, will play a role in the assessment. The company says it has assembled a new team of professionals from elsewhere in the corporate world for the $450,000 contract.

But opponents of the proposed nuclear dump 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas say they expect nothing more than a "rubber stamp" review to come from the effort.

"It would seem very difficult to get an independent assessment if you're just turning around and hiring former Yucca Mountain people," said Bob Loux, executive director of Nevada's Agency for Nuclear Projects, which has been fighting Yucca Mountain for 25 years.

"These are individuals who are likely responsible for the problems at Yucca Mountain, now you're going to turn around and hire them?"

A spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who has vowed to cut Yucca's funding in the department's 2007 budget, said the firm's report is a waste of taxpayer dollars and "already has no credibility.

"I don't think anyone would look at that and think it passes the smell test," Reid spokesman Jon Summers said. "It's sort of like having a failing math student go back and grade his own test," he said. "If they're paying for an independent review then it needs to be independent ... Otherwise you're just seeking advice from people who are going to tell you what you want to hear."

Ward Sproat, the new director of the Energy Department's civilian radioactive waste management office, which overseas Yucca Mountain, announced as soon as he took over last summer that he wanted three independent reviews of the project that is now 20 years behind schedule.

Sproat, who is seen as the department's best hope in getting Yucca Mountain back on track, called for reviews of its engineering, the draft license application and the quality assurance program.

In explaining his game plan before a House energy subcommittee in July, Sproat told the panel: "There are a number of process and organizational issues which must be addressed, all of which are correctable."

His goal is to get the project to its next milestone of submitting a construction license application to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission by 2008. The Energy Department has missed similar deadlines in the past.

The department said Monday that it had awarded Longenecker the first of those contracts, a six-month engineering review of the civilian radioactive waste office and its contractor, Bechtel SAIC. The firm has done work at Yucca Mountain before, mainly in quality assurance oversight.

Company President John Longenecker said the 10-person team for the engineering job comes from the ranks of some of the country's leading corporations, including Fluor and Northrop Grumman.

"We would never consider putting anybody who's ex-DOE on the review team," Longenecker said Monday.

"The way we propose it is to take a fresh look with people who haven't been exposed to it," he said. "Our team of 10 is going to be a totally fresh set of eyes."

The company's Web site lists many former Energy Department officials on staff. Ronald A. Milner, who spent 10 years as the chief operating officer of the department's civilian radioactive waste management office, is part of Longenecker's senior management team. He was hired in April after retiring from the Energy Department. He had worked for the department since 1977.

The company also counts on its roster Donald G. Horton, the former deputy project manager at Yucca Mountain, who also headed up its quality assurance work.

The company's board includes Donald W. Pearman Jr., who had served as Bechtel SAIC's deputy general manager at Yucca Mountain. He previously worked at the Energy Department.

Many of the firms' associates have conducted Yucca-related work.

Longenecker noted the three former Yucca executives were retired and working mostly on a part-time basis for his firm. He was unable to immediately forward a list of team members for this contract.

Longenecker said he will oversee the final report, but said he would not be part of the team because he has done past quality assurance reviews at Yucca.

The project has suffered from repeated problems in its quality assurance protocol, some of which were documented in 2004 by the Government Accountability Office.

The Energy Department stands by its selection, and spokesman Allen Benson said, "We're quite satisfied we're going to get what it is we need, which is a fair, outside look."

He noted that federal ethics laws require cooling-off periods before many former officials can work on past projects in the private sector.

He added that most of the firms capable of taking on such work would have staff members who have familiarity with Yucca Mountain.

"The fact that people have worked for us is certainly not a detriment. It's an asset because they do bring knowledge," Benson said. "It can't hurt."

But Loux says the department could have hired a firm without ties.

"There are plenty of people out there who have never had anything to do with Yucca whatsoever," he said. "If you're really looking for someone independent, you would find someone who hasn't done Yucca Mountain work."