Yucca Mountain News Clips - Tuesday, June 24, 2003

Yucca Mountain News Clips
Tuesday, June 24, 2003
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Las Vegas SUN
June 24, 2003

DOE streamlines Yucca questions

By Benjamin Grove
<grove@lasvegassun.com>

Las Vegas SUN

ROCKVILLE, Md. -- The Energy Department today unveiled a streamlined strategy to answer unresolved scientific questions about Yucca Mountain that will help the department meet its next project deadline.

Instead of answering each of 194 questions individually, the department wants to "bundle" them into 14 groups. For example, three of the 14 groups include questions about seismic activity at Yucca, water seeping into the mountain and how the nuclear waste containers may corrode over time.

The resolutions of the questions -- commonly called "key technical issue agreements" -- is crucial to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission ultimately approving a license that would allow the department to construct the planned underground nuclear waste repository 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

The Energy Department is scrambling to prepare an application for a license by December 2004. The department and the NRC originally agreed that the department would have to answer at least 293 remaining questions about Yucca's long-term ability to isolate waste.

That list has been whittled down to 194, Energy Department officials today told the NRC's Advisory Committee on Nuclear Waste. The department wants to bundle 181 of them into the 14 groups and answer individually 13 questions that defy category.

The department still plans to answer all but 10 or so of the questions by December 2004, Energy Department officials said. About 10 questions will require studies beyond 2004.

The new plan, which has not been approved by the NRC, would save the department time and money on a project that has been plagued by delays and congressional budget cuts, said Timothy Gunter, another DOE project manager.

Gunter said the new plan was a more efficient approach without cutting any corners in answering the questions.

"There is no difference in the degree of completeness with which we intend to address these issues," Gunter said during a meeting break.

Still, at least one Yucca critic said the new plan allows the department to sacrifice quality in order to expedite the project. The department seemingly has already decided that Yucca is a safe waste site and is treating the unresolved issues as merely a set of hoops to jump through, said Lisa Gue, analyst for Public Citizen, a public advocacy group.

"We're increasingly concerned to the extent that this process seems to be turned on its head," Gue said. "It feels a little like you're building a foundation after you've constructed the house."

The NRC's waste panel advises the five-member commission on Yucca issues. Several members of the panel questioned whether the NRC would approve the new plan. The new plan may not match the NRC's plan for reviewing the Energy Department's answers, panel member George Hornberger said.

It's not known when the NRC might rule on the plan.

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Las Vegas SUN
June 20, 2003

Columnist Benjamin Grove: Bush doesn't have good reason to visit Nevada

Benjamin Grove covers Washington, D.C., for the Sun. He can be reached at grove@lasvegassun.com or (202) 662-7245.

IT LEAKED last week that President Bush soon may plan his first trip to Nevada as president.

I wondered: Why?

Presidents do not visit states just because they haven't been there yet. They go because they want something -- a meaningful backdrop for a policy speech, or a vote in the Senate (in a recent visit to Ohio, Bush was not-too-subtly leaning on Republican Sen. George Voinovich to support his tax cut).

But typically presidents travel for campaign money or electoral votes. And while money is plentiful in Las Vegas, the votes are not. For Bush, it's probably not worth the hassle of brushing off Yucca Mountain questions for money he could just as easily raise in a friendlier place.

Officially, White House spokesman Ken Lisaius said he could not point to a specific reason that Bush has not been to Nevada, other than Bush is pretty busy and has a hectic travel schedule as it is.

"He is president of all 50 states, and he wishes he had more time to travel," Lisaius said.

I told Lisaius that a cynic might assume Bush was avoiding Nevada because last year he approved Yucca Mountain as the best site for the nation's nuclear waste dump. Bush is probably not eager to stir any lingering resentment over Yucca in front of the traveling press corps.

Lisaius called that conjecture "inaccurate at best."

It's possible a single issue like Yucca Mountain could contribute to keeping a president away, said presidential politics expert Bruce Buchanan, who is from Bush's home state of Texas.

But the University of Texas government professor said one dominant factor generally determines the president's travel plans more than any other: re-election politics. It's far more likely that Bush hasn't been to Nevada because the state is going to vote for Bush again whether he shows up or not, Buchanan said. And in the end, Nevada can only offer him five electoral votes anyway. "He's obviously steering toward states that Karl Rove and other key advisers think are pivotal in the next election," Buchanan said. "Unless a fund-raising source surfaces in Nevada that they haven't tapped, you aren't likely to see a drop-in from Air Force One."

It turns out Nevada is not alone. Despite criss-crossing the nation recently, there are still seven states Bush has not been to as president: Nevada, Hawaii, Rhode Island, Idaho, Vermont, Washington and Kansas. (That's according to Mark Knoller, a veteran CBS news White House reporter well-known for keeping meticulous records. The White House doesn't keep a running trips tally, a spokesman said.)

On the other hand, Bush has had plenty of time for Iowa (nine visits) and New Hampshire (two visits, by my count), where the first caucus and primary are held. Bush made his sixth trip to Minnesota last week. The president has been in the neighborhood, with visits to Arizona, Utah and Oregon. He has been to California six times mining for money, even though Nevada voted for him and California didn't. And Bush practically meets residency requirements in politically-crucial Pennsylvania (19 visits), Michigan (nine visits) and Ohio (nine visits).

Last week Nevada Republican Party executive director Joseph Brezny said "plans are in the works" for a possible Bush trip in August, coincidently, right around the time Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., is planning to announce whether he'll challenge Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev.

"There is no cloak and dagger reason that he hasn't been to Nevada," Brezny said. "It's simple scheduling."

Perhaps. But it's also complex politics. And right now, with no Senate candidate to stump for and no sense that the presidential election would even be close, it's hard to see why Bush would want to visit the Silver State.

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Las Vegas SUN
June 23, 2003

NRC asked to probe nuke waste casks

By Benjamin Grove
<grove@lasvegassun.com>

Las Vegas SUN

WASHINGTON -- Two activist groups have asked the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to probe allegations that some of the nuclear waste storage containers used in five states are flawed.

Public Citizen and Nuclear Information and Resource Service last week asked the NRC to look into allegations originally made by a corporate audit team in July 2000 about the containers.

Former Exelon Corp. employee Oscar Shirani led the quality assurance audit of casks designed by Holtec International, a leading nuclear waste cask manufacturer, and fabricated by U.S. Tool and Dye. Exelon, the nation's leading nuclear power company, uses Holtec casks to store waste at its plants.

Shirani found nine technical violations in a cask design currently used in five states -- Illinois, Oregon, New York, Georgia and Washington. The violations did not meet Nuclear Regulatory Commission standards, the audit found, according to the two groups. The casks may not perform under stress and strain as the NRC expects, Shirani has said. The NRC regulates the nuclear industry, including waste casks.

Shirani said the Holtec casks have welding violations and "brittle" material, according to the activist groups. He also alleges falsified quality assurance documents.

The issue has relevance to Yucca Mountain, activists say. Holtec is likely to bid on a lucrative contract for waste shipping containers that will be needed to haul waste from the nation's nuclear plants to the proposed underground waste repository 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

"If Holtec casks are used to haul nuclear waste through Nevada to Yucca Mountain, there are unknown safety margins," Public Citizen analyst Lisa Gue said. "And the other problem is that the NRC doesn't seem to care."

Shirani was not available for comment.

Holtec manager of licensing and technical services Brian Gutherman said the flaws were addressed after the audit was released. Gutherman said the company did not know why Shirani and the activist groups were raising the issue again. He said the company is reviewing the audit documents and the company's follow-up.

"It's a very typical procedure that findings are made, corrective actions are recommended and those actions are taken when appropriate," Gutherman said.

Shirani has alleged that the company fired him because of his audit. But Exelon spokesman Craig Nesbit denied that the company retaliated or fired Shirani. Shirani left the company more than a year after the audit, and his departure was "absolutely unrelated" to the audit, Nesbit said. He could not elaborate on why or how Shirani left the company.

Nesbit also said Exelon and Holtec addressed the cask flaws Shirani described in his audit.

Public Citizen and NIRS requested a probe by the NRC in a June 19 letter. An NRC spokeswoman today could not say how the NRC will respond.

"The circumstances surrounding this audit, its findings and Mr. Shirani's subsequent dismissal from Exelon point to a concerning breakdown in NRC's quality assurance program and the agency's oversight of industry quality assurance programs," the two groups wrote to the NRC.

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Lincoln Journal Star
June 23, 2003

Nuke waste shipping remains a concern

BY SCOTT BAUER
The Associated Press

The safe shipment of nuclear waste materials was discussed at a meeting Wednesday of officials from seven Midwestern states.

"We want to make sure when shipments occur, they do so without event," Gov. Mike Johanns told the Council of State Governments committee on radioactive materials transportation.

The group meets twice a year and includes law enforcement personnel, lawmakers, health officials and others who might deal with waste shipments. States represented at Wednesday's meeting were Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Ohio.

The key to such gatherings is to discuss issues with representatives from the federal Department of Energy, said Tim Runyon with the Illinois Department of Nuclear Safety and chairman of the committee.

"The states are progressing toward improving communication with DOE regarding what types of material are on the road at any given time," he said.

Johanns said communication has improved since 1996, when a semi-tractor trailer carrying two nuclear warheads slid off an icy road about 40 miles south of Valentine.

The truck was coming from Ellsworth Air Force Base near Rapid City, S.D., and was headed to Texas.

No radioactive material leaked, and no one was injured.

Since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, the safe shipment of nuclear material across the country has taken on added significance, Runyon said.

The Department of Energy has been working with the new Department of Homeland Security on waste transportation issues, said Patrice Bubar, an official representing the DOE at the meeting.

One issue to which the department is paying particular attention is the establishment of fees by states on the shipment of waste across their borders, she said.

The Nebraska Legislature this spring passed a bill, which will take effect in September, that sets a $2,000 fee per cask of radioactive waste that comes through the state.

Similar fees are in place in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa and Minnesota.

Bubar said one unintended consequence of the fees was that waste will be shipped a different route to avoid paying them.

About 30 people attended the meeting, which began Tuesday and concludes today. The subcommittee on waste shipment concerns has been meeting since 1989.

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Las Vegas Review-Journal
June 21, 2003

NUCLEAR WASTE CASKS: Groups seek possible flaw probe

Design quality comes into question

By Steve Tetreault
Stephens Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON -- Two public interest groups have called for an investigation into allegations of flaws in nuclear waste casks designed by a prominent nuclear services firm.

Audits in 2000 uncovered nine quality assurance problems suggesting that dry storage casks designed by New Jersey-based Holtec International and fabricated by contractor U.S. Tool & Die, may not match government design specifications, according to Public Citizen and the Nuclear Information and Resource Service.

A member of the audit team, Oscar Shirani, has alleged the Nuclear Regulatory Commission failed to adequately address the safety issues after he brought them to the agency's attention in December 2001.

In a letter Thursday, the public interest groups asked the NRC's independent inspector general to investigate whether the agency was "appropriately responsive to public safety concerns."

The audit raises questions whether casks loaded with nuclear fuel will perform as expected if involved in accidents, according to Public Citizen policy analyst Lisa Gue. Shirani's audit turned up possible welding violations, brittle materials, damages to neutron shielding and falsified quality assurance documents, the groups said.

"If plans go forward for the Private Fuel Storage (in Utah) and Yucca Mountain and the NRC is banking on analysis that has a questionable correspondence to reality, that raises questions whether the NRC is operating in La-La Land," Gue said.

Nevada-hired experts have begun to examine Shirani's claims for possible implications for the Yucca Mountain Project, which will require casks to ship nuclear waste to a repository 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

The Department of Energy has not yet selected cask designs for the Yucca projects although Holtec is expected to be among the companies bidding.

"We have looked at the general issue of the implications of a failure to follow quality assurance procedures if a cask were to be involved in an accident," Nevada transportation consultant Robert Halstead said Friday. "Now we will look at the specific allegations on Holtec.

"It's a very valid issue," Halstead added. "A whistle-blower raising questions about how a fabricator is dealing with QA procedures is important."

Shirani said Friday that fabrication problems with Holtec dry casks also raise questions about the safety of casks used to ship nuclear waste.

Brian Gutherman, Holtec manager of licensing and technical services, said the company has never been contacted by the NRC about problems with its cask designs. He would not comment on how Holtec will respond now to questions being raised publicly about the company's work.

Shirani was working for the Exelon Corp., a nuclear power plant operator that uses Holtec casks for dry storage, when he was involved in the audit.

The interest groups said the NRC failed to protect the auditor, who agreed to transfer to another division after he went to the agency with his concerns and was terminated 10 months later.

Unemployed and living in Chicago, Shirani said Friday he believes he was a victim of retaliation. "They found out I was becoming tougher than the NRC" in safety inspections, he said of Exelon. He has filed a labor complaint with an administrative law judge.

"This company did not retaliate against him in any way, shape or form," Exelon spokesman Craig Nesbit said.

Nesbit said personnel privacy forbade him from discussing why Shirani was terminated.

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Las Vegas Review-Journal
June 21, 2003

Domenici seeks DOE hearing answers

By Steve Tetreault
Stephens Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON -- A New Mexico senator came to the defense of the Energy Department on Friday on the issue of whether DOE has muscled whistle-blowers within the Yucca Mountain Project.

Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., asked Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham to formally reply to allegations that the department tried to prevent two workers from testifying at a May 28 hearing in Las Vegas.

Sens. Harry Reid, D-Nev., and John Ensign, R-Nev., who held the hearing, have charged that former project audit chief Robert Clark and auditor Donald Harris were discouraged from appearing and talking about problems uncovered in the nuclear waste repository program.

The Nevada senators asked Attorney General John Ashcroft on June 4 to investigate. DOE officials have strongly denied they tried to influence the workers.

Domenici is chairman of the Senate subcommittee that sets funding for the Yucca Mountain Project. Aides in recent days have said Domenici has seen no convincing evidence that DOE tried to silence Clark and Harris.

Reid "also is very anxious to hear Secretary Abraham's explanation," Reid spokeswoman Tessa Hafen said. "He also is interested in how long it takes Abraham to respond to Sen. Domenici while he has waited weeks to hear from John Ashcroft."

Domenici invited Abraham to comment on any other issues that were raised at the Las Vegas hearing, where DOE was not invited to testify. Domenici said the secretary's responses will be included in the hearing's official record, giving senators the opportunity to hear both sides.

At the hearing, retired nuclear inspector William Belke and Allison MacFarlane, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor who has monitored the Yucca Mountain Project, discussed what they saw as deficiencies in the program.

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Reno Gazette Journal
June 21, 2003

Two groups call for probe into nuclear storage containers

Associated Press

Two public interest groups have called for an investigation into possible design flaws concerning storage containers that would be used in transporting nuclear waste to Yucca Mountain.

Audits in 2000 showed nine quality assurance problems suggesting dry storage containers designed by New Jersey-based Holtec International may not match government specifications, according to Public Citizen and the Nuclear Information and Resource Service.

In a letter Thursday, the two groups asked the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's independent inspector general to investigate whether the agency was"appropriately responsive to public safety concerns."

The audit turned up possible welding violations, brittle materials, damages to neutron shielding and falsified quality assurance documents, according to the groups.

The Department of Energy has not yet selected designs for the containers, although Holtec is expected to be among the companies competing for the contract.

Brian Gutherman, Holtec manager of licensing and technical services, said the company has never been contacted by the NRC about problems with its container designs.

The Energy Department plans by the end of 2004 to submit to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission an application to operate the nuclear repository 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas. Plans call for the burial of 77,000 tons of commercial, industrial and military waste at the site.

Information from: Las Vegas Review-Journal

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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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