Yucca Mountain News Clips
Tuesday, May 6, 2003
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Las Vegas SUN
May 06, 2003
Senate panel OKs funds to fight Yucca
LAS VEGAS SUN
CARSON CITY -- The Senate Finance Committee on Monday approved the recommendation of Gov. Kenny Guinn to allocate another $2 million to continue the state's legal fight against Yucca Mountain.
Committee staff members said $1.6 million is left from prior contributions and appropriations to finance the lawsuits. The additional $2 million, to be allocated to the state attorney general's office, would be used after the $1.6 million is exhausted.
Before any of the $2 million could be spent, the attorney general's office would have to get approval of the Legislative Interim Finance Committee.
The action by the finance committee coincides with the approval of the Assembly Ways and Means Committee and means the money will be in the final budget.
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Las Vegas SUN
May 06, 2003
State presents latest case against Yucca
By Benjamin Grove
<grove@lasvegassun.com>
LAS VEGAS SUN
The state of Nevada has fired another shot in its constitutional challenge to Yucca Mountain.
The state, along with Clark County and the city of Las Vegas, in January filed an initial lawsuit in federal court outlining the contention that it was unconstitutional for the federal government to construct the nation's first high-level nuclear waste repository in Nevada. The parties filed their detailed 61-page opening brief late last week in the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia.
A federal government response is likely to follow in the next few weeks.
The lawsuit has been filed against the United States, the Energy Department and Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham.
An Energy Department spokesman was unavailable for immediate comment.
The case is based on the principles of federalism and state sovereignty, state Attorney General Brian Sandoval said in a statement. In this case, the federal government exceeded its powers under the constitution to force state compliance, Nevada officials say.
"At the heart of this case is the question whether there are any constitutional limits on Congress' authority to arbitrarily single out a state and to force it alone to shoulder a burden for the benefit of all other states," Sandoval said.
The Energy Department's decision to locate the nation's waste repository in Nevada leaves the state powerless, Sandoval said. The decision also lacked a basis of "scientifically neutral standards," he said.
"The daunting nature of the problem posed by radioactive waste cannot justify violating the principles of federalism on which this Union was founded," the brief states in its conclusion.
Nevada has four lawsuits pending against the Yucca project. A case against the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's rules for licensing Yucca is scheduled to begin hearings in September. Nevada officials hope the court will consider all the cases together then.
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Las Vegas SUN
May 06, 2003
Reid, Ensign to hold Senate hearing in LV on Yucca flaws
By Benjamin Grove
<grove@lasvegassun.com>
LAS VEGAS SUN
WASHINGTON -- Sens. Harry Reid, D-Nev., and John Ensign, R-Nev., are organizing a Senate field hearing in Las Vegas to investigate alleged flaws in the Yucca Mountain project.
The hearing is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. on May 28. The venue has not been finalized.
The senators may invite Yucca workers who have raised concerns about the project to testify, but a witness list also has not been finalized.
"We must take a serious look at allegations of flawed science, and this hearing will provide the opportunity for us to question those who have seen problems first hand," Ensign said.
An Energy Department spokesman today said the department has no comment on the hearing.
The senators are especially interested in learning more about problems within the Yucca's quality assurance program, which has seen a number of worker complaints.
James Mattimoe, a quality assurance manager who worked for Navarro Engineering and Research, a Tennessee-based Yucca contractor, said he was unfairly fired after he complained about how project concerns were handled. Instead of handling Mattimoe's concerns about the project, Energy Department officials hired a law firm to launch an investigation of Mattimoe, Mattimoe said. The firm, Morgan Lewis, had ties to the Yucca project, the Sun later reported.
Mattimoe appealed, and a Department of Labor probe agreed he was unfairly terminated. Mattimoe, who now works at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, settled his grievance with Navarro in an undisclosed settlement.
Another Yucca quality assurance manager, Robert Clark, was shifted to other duties as part of the Mattimoe controversy.
More recently, three audit team members who uncovered flaws in Yucca work procedures also were reportedly reassigned. At least one of them, Don Harris, was given his job back. The audit team also worked for Navarro. Navarro managers said Harris' temporary reassignment had nothing to do with his concerns about the project and that another team member, George Harper, was never reassigned.
Still, the Nevada senators are worried that Yucca workers are not free to raise concerns about the project and about whether the scientific data supporting the project has been handled properly.
"This hearing will give us the opportunity to find out, for the record, whether or not the scientific studies at the site are credible," Reid said. "More and more evidence clearly indicates that that is not the case."
Reid will host the field hearing as the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations subcommittee on energy and water projects, which has budget control over Yucca.
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Las Vegas Review-Journal
May 06, 2003
Hearing to explore Yucca project woes
Senators responding to recent reports
By STEVE TETREAULT
STEPHENS WASHINGTON BUREAU
WASHINGTON -- Nevada's senators on Monday announced a May 28 Senate hearing in Las Vegas will explore recent reports of problems within the Yucca Mountain Project.
Aides said the senators had not yet determined who will be invited to testify. Possibilities include officials from the Energy Department and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, current and former project auditors and outside experts.
Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., said the hearing is being put together following reports over the past few weeks of new and lingering quality assurance problems within the nuclear waste disposal program.
"This hearing will give us the opportunity to find out, for the record, whether or not the scientific studies at the site are credible," Reid said in a statement. "More and more evidence clearly indicates that that is not the case."
A DOE spokesman declined comment Monday night.
In order to qualify for an NRC license, DOE must provide a detailed documenting of the scientific processes, software formation and computer modeling that supports Yucca Mountain, 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas, for nuclear waste burial.
Reports from auditors and other officials have indicated that such quality assurance has been a program struggle over the years.
In March, the Energy Department called on its program contractor Bechtel SAIC to correct the processing of certain procedures after auditors found flaws in how employees were carrying out the task.
One of the auditors said members of his team were reassigned after reporting the problems. Another auditor who was fired in 2001 successfully challenged his dismissal as being politically motivated.
Last week, Bechtel officials disclosed they would be rechecking documentation of computer models developed over the past four years. A review had suggested that problems with data management had been repeated despite corrective efforts.
Also last week, an NRC official responsible for monitoring the Yucca program issued a warning that DOE was failing to build a strong case for the repository because of persistent management failings.
"There is no room for error when it comes to Yucca Mountain," said Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev. "We must take a serious look at allegations of flawed science, and this hearing will provide the opportunity for us to question those who have seen problems first hand."
The hearing will be held by the Senate's energy and water subcommittee, where Reid is the ranking Democratic member. Subcommittee chairman Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., has signed off on the hearing, but it is doubtful anyone besides the Nevada senators will attend, Reid aides said.
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Las Vegas Review-Journal
May 06, 2003
State argues nuclear waste plan violates Constitution
By STEVE TETREAULT
STEPHENS WASHINGTON BUREAU
WASHINGTON -- Nevada is pursuing a legal case that argues the government's effort to single out the state for nuclear waste disposal was unconstitutional.
Rather than adhere to limits on federal authority, the Bush administration and Congress applied "raw political power" and usurped Nevada's sovereignty when Yucca Mountain was designated for nuclear waste burial through a resolution passed last year, the state contends.
"If there are any such limits, if Congress' power is this regard is not absolute, then the resolution challenged here surely exceeds them," Nevada argued.
Nevada's nuclear waste legal team opened the state's constitutional case against the Yucca Mountain Project in a 61-page brief filed on Thursday in Washington.
Singling out Yucca Mountain to serve a national need to dispose of nuclear waste is akin to the government re-establishing the military draft but only conscripting Nevadans into service, the state said.
"The congressional action is tantamount to a political mugging by 49 states against Nevada," attorney general Brian Sandoval said in a statement.
The brief was filed in the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. A government response is due early next month.
Attorneys said the constitutional issues will likely be argued before a three-judge panel in September, around the same time as three other consolidated cases Nevada has pressed against the Yucca project.
In its brief, Nevada argued the federal government violated the Constitution's fundamental principles on sovereignty and federalism as well as states' rights protections outlined in the 10th Amendment.
"Congress may establish a national nuclear waste repository but it may not run roughshod over Nevada's sovereign dignity in the process," the state argued.
Like its other lawsuits, the constitutional challenge involves Nevada's argument that the government changed its repository site rules after concluding that Yucca Mountain's rock structure would not meet licensing criteria. Research showed cracks would carry water through the repository and enable radioactive particles to seep into groundwater.
Instead, new rules allowed significant protection from titanium drip shields and special alloy canisters to count in calculating the mountain's effectiveness.
The change removed any chance the government would judge the Nevada site by a constitutionally acceptable "neutral" criteria, the state charged.
Consequently, the Yucca Mountain resolution Congress passed last July "is a perfect illustration of an arbitrary law that singles out a state in a way that leaves it politically isolated and powerless."
To force a single state to bear a burden for the nation, the government must have a "rational, neutral reason," Nevada's attorneys said.
But in the case of Yucca Mountain, the state said, 49 states get rid of their nuclear waste "while Nevada gets metal drums and wishful thinking."
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Ely Daily Times
May 6, 2003
DOE official says no WP routes for dump
By C.F.DINGEY -- Ely Times Correspondent
Although budget cuts have slowed work on transportation issues, the U.S. Department of Energy still plans to open the Yucca Mountain High-Level Nuclear Waste Repository by 2010, a DOE official told the White Pine County Commission this week.
Robert Lupton, public relations specialist with the DOE's Office of Repository Development at Yucca Mountain, told the commissioners during their meeting Wednesday that by 2005, the DOE must look at another site for radioactive waste disposal in addition to Yucca Mountain, or Congress has to pass a law allowing all of the nation's nuclear waste to be stored at Yucca Mountain only.
Lupton said the nation can expect to generate 70,000 metric tons of nuclear waste by 2010. The facility or facilities built to store the waste have to be 10,000 year compliant, meaning they must be able to store the waste for 10,000 years.
Lupton said nuclear reactors use only a fraction of the fuel that comes from nuclear material. He said there is still a "significant" amount of energy left that current technology can't extract. This "spent" nuclear fuel is what would
be stored at Yucca Mountain. As he put it, "It's hard to say what kind of new technology we might have in a 100 or 150 years. We might find a way to extract the rest of the useful energy from the fuels stored at Yucca Mountain in the future." For this reason, the Department of Energy has in place a plan to be able to go back into its repositories and use the nuclear fuels it has stored for up to 300 years.
The issue concerning White Pine County, basically, is the transportation of nuclear waste, and the possibility of it passing through the county.
Lupton said there are no plans for waste to be transported through White Pine.
"The preferred method of transport is by rail," he added. However, if Yucca Mountain is used as a repository, the initial shipments of nuclear waste would have to be trucked in until a railroad line could be constructed to the site.
Lupton also cited the safety record of spent, nuclear-fuel shipments to date. There have been over 3,000 shipments in the U.S. over the past 30 years. In addition, there have been 738 Navy container shipments since 1957. In that time, there has never been a release of radioactive material harmful to the public or the environment.
Lupton said he understands the concerns of the public relating to the nuclear-waste issue, and Yucca Mountain in particular. He mentioned the "open door" policy the Department of Energy has in place. The public can tour the Yucca Mountain facility, and see for itself the safety measures in place. The public can actually talk to the scientists who work at the site. He encourages the public to take the tours and to go to the website at www.ocrwm.doe.gov.
Lupton told the commission his office will keep county officials informed on the progress being made at Yucca Mountain and other repositories in the future.
In other business, R&R Roofing of Ely was awarded the contract to repair the roof at the White Pine Senior Center. The amount of the bid was $17,947. The commission had budgeted $20,000 for the roof repairs. Public works supervisor Tony Locke said the roof could need new decking, and if so, the project could cost around $21,000, going over the budgeted amount.
"We won't be able to tell if the roof needs new decking until we get the old roof torn off," he said.
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Nevada Appeal
May 06, 2003
Quality-control problems persist at Yucca
by Nevada Appeal Editorial Board
The closer the U.S. Department of Energy comes to a showdown on proving the need and viability of the Yucca Mountain nuclear-waste repository, the more it's going to have to depend on excruciating scientific detail.
And right now it doesn't look good for the DOE.
Nevadans have long fought the repository site north of Las Vegas on both broad political grounds and narrow technical ones.
There was, of course, the way Nevada was originally chosen as the place for the nation's nuclear waste -- a political bait-and-switch that caused three potential national sites to magically become only one: Yucca Mountain.
There was also the reason for choosing the site -- its stable geologic nature, which proved to be false when examined scientifically. Besides seismic activity, it was shown that groundwater was percolating through the mountain much faster than speculated.
At some point, Yucca Mountain repository opponents are hoping, all the promises of basing decisions on "sound science" will come home to roost.
The latest issues were revealed last week in Las Vegas when problems were discovered with years' worth of documentation on data regarding the ability of the site to store nuclear waste.
This gets to be rather arcane stuff, but it will be important when the DOE goes before the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in December 2004 to make its case.
In a nutshell, managers apparently were looking for shortcuts in the process of documenting the work that went on there.
In addition, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported that three auditors who reported the quality-control problems were removed from their positions a short time later.
None of this helps instill confidence that this site can be engineered to protect Nevadans from radioactive waste for 10,000 years. It does give us hope this project, if viewed objectively, will someday be abandoned.
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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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