Yucca Mountain News Clips
Friday, April 18, 2003
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State of Nevada
April 17, 2003
The Honorable Nils J. Diaz, Chairman
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission
One White Flint North
11555 Rockville Pike
Rockville, MD 20852-2738
Dear Chairman Diaz:
We are writing you to express our strong support for the Petition for Rulemaking recently filed by the State of Nevada asking the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to modify certain hearing procedures in the NRC´s prospective licensing proceeding for a Yucca Mountain repository. The changes requested by the State are essential to ensure the fair and unbiased consideration of the Department of Energy (DOE)´s prospective application and to instill public confidence in the Commission´s proceeding.
We strongly support the State of Nevada´s request that all hearing board members for this proceeding be selected from outside the Commission. As you know, this will be an extremely complex proceeding, with much national attention on an unprecedented and highly controversial project. We believe that the Commission should make every effort to ensure that the ultimate decision on the license application is beyond any claim of bias, is independent both in perception and in reality, and is scientifically competent. This can only be accomplished by granting the State´s petition – i.e., selecting board members who are independent of the Commission and who possess impeccable credentials in the key scientific disciplines essential to understanding the issues.
The role of the staff in the proceeding are of major concern. As long as the Commission staff is permitted to function as a party-advocate in the proceeding, arguing on behalf and in support of the applicant, here DOE, there can be no confidence that the Commission is independent and unbiased in considering the DOE application. It is especially inappropriate for the NRC staff to advocate on behalf of another federal agency in such a proceeding and for the government´s technical and legal resources to be arrayed against interveners. Rather, the role of the NRC staff should be to listen and provide independent advice on the issues raised in the proceeding. We urge your support for removing the NRC staff as a party to the actual proceeding because the potential effect on credibility and bias.
As you may know, a number of documents have come to light during the discovery process related to pending litigation that have given rise to the concerns outlined in the State´s petition. For example, the State of Nevada filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) inquiry seeking documents pertaining to the joint NRC-DOE request for an opinion from the Government Ethics Office concerning the role of former DOE employees in a Yucca Mountain licensing proceeding. DOE explained the denial by asserting that both agencies share a common client, the United States, and therefore the information is privileged.
Public confidence in whatever decision the Commission makes in the Yucca Mountain proceeding is critical, not only for Nevadans but for the nation and for the Commission. Granting the State of Nevada´s request will go a long way towards assuring that such a proceeding will be fair and impartial. We strongly urge your support for Nevada´s petition.
Sincerely,
HARRY REID
U.S. Senator
JOHN ENSIGN
U.S. Senator
SHELLEY BERKLEY
U.S. Representative
JIM GIBBONS
U.S. Representative
JON PORTER
U.S. Representative
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Las Vegas Review Journal
April 18, 2003
Nevada lawmakers urge use of experts outside of agency
Letter: NRC must ensure unbiased look at repository's licensing
By STEVE TETREAULT
STEPHENS WASHINGTON BUREAU
WASHINGTON -- Nevada lawmakers Thursday endorsed a call for independent experts to judge whether a nuclear waste repository should be licensed at Yucca Mountain.
In a letter to the chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the five Nevadans in Congress urged appointment of hearing boards from outside the NRC to handle the Yucca Mountain Project.
The lawmakers echoed a request from Nevada Attorney General Brian Sandoval earlier this month that changes in the NRC's licensing process are necessary to ensure the agency can perform a "fair and unbiased" job.
"The NRC must ensure that the process is above board, fair and impartial," Rep. Jon Porter, R-Nev., said.
Sandoval petitioned the NRC on April 3 for changes in Yucca licensing, which would start after the Department of Energy turns over thousands of pages of material to regulators. The department has said it wants to file an application in December 2004.
After three or four years of hearings overseen by safety and licensing authorities, the NRC would judge whether the Energy Department has shown whether the repository proposed 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas could contain radioactive particles from spent nuclear fuel for 10,000 years.
But because NRC staff scientists have worked with the Energy Department on Yucca Mountain licensing, Nevada officials have expressed concern whether the agency can serve as an independent arbiter of the repository.
In their letter, Nevada lawmakers urged that NRC staff members be barred from arguing for the repository, as law permits. Instead, the members should play a neutral role in the proceedings, the lawmakers said.
Having NRC scientists supporting the licensing effort "would be similar to having a defendant's family sitting on the jury at the defendant's trial," Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., said. "The NRC should ensure an absence of any biases or conflicts of interest."
NRC officials have said they would not hesitate to reject a repository if they thought it could not be operated safely and effectively.
The letter to Diaz was signed also by Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., and Reps. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., and Shelley Berkley, D-Nev.
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Las Vegas Review Journal
April 18, 2003
YUCCA MOUNTAIN: Industry official questions oversight
Regulators' questions distracting Energy Department, repository supporter says
By STEVE TETREAULT
STEPHENS WASHINGTON BUREAU
WASHINGTON -- A nuclear industry official on Thursday urged government regulators to set aside some of their questions about Yucca Mountain until the Energy Department applies for a license to build a nuclear waste repository at the Nevada site.
Steven Kraft, waste management director of the Nuclear Energy Institute, said some activities DOE scientists are conducting by direction of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission "frankly are not helping preparations of a license application."
Kraft questioned the usefulness of some of the Yucca Mountain audit reviews that NRC performs. He said some meetings between NRC staff and DOE officials take place "only because they are scheduled."
NRC questions about Yucca Mountain should be put aside and revived after the Energy Department files for permission to bury nuclear waste at the site, Kraft said.
"NRC needs to let DOE work internally in developing a license application and its answers to questions," Kraft said. "The DOE cannot effectively conduct itself if it is constantly responding to things that are not on point simply because NRC staff decides ... it wants to ask questions."
Kraft, whose group is a supporter of the Yucca project, added distractions might affect the quality of DOE's license application, which officials have said they plan to submit by December 2004.
The industry official's views were offered at an NRC regulatory conference. Several NRC officials at the meeting countered Kraft's view.
Janet Schleuter, chief of the NRC high-level waste branch, said that NRC staff will be required to write a safety report on the repository and that the meetings with the Energy Department enable staff members to understand the repository proposal.
She said that could save the NRC significant time when it weighs the license application. The agency will take three or four years to review the application.
Federal law calls for NRC staff to monitor the Energy Department's work before a license is submitted.
The two agencies have developed a list of 293 technical matters to be addressed as the license application is being formed.
DOE officials said 75 of the issues have been completed.
Kraft said the NRC and DOE should halt interaction on the items and carry over the remainder as part of the licensing process.
"At some point the NRC staff should simply stop asking questions, so DOE can answer what they believe is the right material in the license application," Kraft said.
Asked for DOE's view of Kraft's remarks, Yucca Mountain Project official Christopher Kouts said, "We're doing what we need to do to communicate with the NRC. We're doing our best to support these interactions and will continue to do so."
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Las Vegas SUN
April 18, 2003
French shot at Yucca Mountain contract criticized
By Benjamin Grove
<grove@lasvegassun.com>
LAS VEGAS SUN
WASHINGTON -- Critics of France for its anti-war stance are questioning whether a French company should be considered for a lucrative Yucca Mountain contract.
At issue is a contract for a waste transfer facility at Yucca where radioactive material would be prepared for burial in Yucca tunnels. The Energy Department's top contract for the nuclear waste repository project, Bechtel SAIC, is already seeking design contracts for the facility.
Bechtel will not confirm bidders or details about the contract until it is awarded, spokeswoman Bea Reilly said. The Energy Department did not return calls for comment.
But media reports have said that the French company Cogema is one of three candidates for the job.
It is widely believed that Cogema's experience with "dry transfer facilities," which do not use fuel pools, would have "special appeal" to Bechtel, according to a February article in Nuclear Fuel, a trade publication.
CNN this week reported that Cogema may be the leading candidate for the work over two U.S. companies. And New York Times columnist William Safire wrote this month that the two other companies, which he said were an American-Japanese group and an American-British group, should be given consideration over Cogema.
"Assuming the expertise and price are in the same ballpark, which outfit should not get this sensitive project financed by American taxpayers?" Safire wrote. "In light of (French) President Jacques Chirac's torpedo into the Atlantic alliance, the question answers itself."
Michael McMurphy, president and CEO of Cogema's U.S. arm, Cogema Inc., told the Sun he could not comment because the company was in the middle of the contract bidding with Bechtel. But he said his company's technical expertise was "directly applicable" to the job Bechtel seeks to fill.
"I'm confident our proposal would be considered fairly based on its own merits," and not influenced by any anti-French sentiment, McMurphy said. He added that the U.S. arm of the company is incorporated in Delaware and that the company and its affiliates employ about 4,000 U.S. workers.
But several critics say that French companies should not be given top consideration for Yucca contracts, especially when it comes to issues of national security such as nuclear waste management.
"We do feel that as a national security question, contracts should go to companies that are going to be with us through thick and thin," said David Bossie, president of the conservative activist group Citizens United Foundation.
That's going to be the reaction of lots of Las Vegas Valley residents too, said Archie Barton, a 45-year-old mall security guard who lives in The Lakes.
"When I heard about this on the news, I got pretty upset about it. I did some research on the Internet and there are allegations that this French company has safety problems," Barton said. "And the national security concern is a valid one when you are talking about a company based in a country that worked against our national security objectives.
"If there are other companies that can do the Yucca work, companies that are affiliated with countries that are our allies, then the contract ought to go to one of them," Barton said. "I think a lot of people who pay attention to what is going on, people who vote, will feel the same way."
CNN's Moneyline program sought out comment from Rep. Jack Kingston, R-Ga., on the Cogema issue because he has been outspoken against France's position against the war with Iraq, Kingston spokeswoman Robyn Ridgley said. It makes sense to "lean towards" an American company, Kingston told CNN.
"All things being equal, the question is: Should France reap the benefits of lucrative contracts when they have made it a national pastime to bash America?" Ridgley said.
Among the lawmakers who have been most outspoken against French companies profiting from the post-war reconstruction contracts in Iraq has been Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev. But pending Nevada's legal fight to kill the project, it's "too hypothetical" to comment on whether French companies profit at Yucca Mountain, Ensign spokesman Jack Finn said.
"We're still optimistic there will be no Yucca Mountain."
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State of Nevada
Agency for Nuclear Projects
www.state.nv.us/nucwaste/
nwpo@nuc.state.nv.us
775-687-3744
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