Yucca Mountain News Clips
Tuesday, October 5, 2004
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Las Vegas SUN
October 05, 2004
Report: Energy Department mismanaged Yucca property
By Suzanne Struglinski
<suzanne@lasvegassun.com>
Sun Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON -- The Energy Department gave away more than 1,300 pieces of property last year at Yucca Mountain that it could have sold for an estimated $458,000, a department inspector general's report said.
The Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management gave an unnamed disposal contractor 9,000 metric tons of excess federal property and paid the company $73,000 to get rid of it, the report said. The office has not seen any money in return, according to the report.
Property included mining equipment, power generators and a drill that could have been used on site.
The inspector general's office found the deal "did not maximize the recovery of the government's investment" because the government did not receive any money from the sale of reusable property. It attributed the problems to weaknesses in property management.
Nevada's congressional delegation, which is against the proposed nuclear waste repository 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, blasted the Energy Department over the report.
In a letter sent to key members of committees that oversee Yucca Mountain funding, Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., said Congress should not allocate money for the project based on the report's discovery of poor property management.
"Congress cannot allow the (office's) flagrant disregard for agency rules go unchecked," Gibbons wrote in a letter sent Monday to Senate Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Pete Domenici, R-N.M., and Rep. David Hobson, R-Ohio, who heads the same subcommittee in the House.
He asked the lawmakers to cut funding for the office for fiscal year 2005.
"It is my hope that this level of funding for the (office) will send a strong message to the Department of Energy that Congress does not take the priority of fiscal restraint and accountability lightly."
The House approved $131 million for the nuclear waste storage project at Yucca, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, earlier this year. The Senate has not approved its budget and will not until after the November election. The department asked for $880 million.
The department's mismanaged property included:
• A "roadheader," which is a piece of mining equipment used for drilling tunnels, valued at $792,000 that could have brought in up to $523,000 if resold.
• Two power centers that cost $68,000 and appreciated to $82,000 in value and and a conveyor belt feeder worth $35,000, none of which had ever been used.
• About 4,580 tons of iron and steel, some of which was never used, valued at $737,000. The inspector general's office estimated the department could have made $29,000 selling the materials on its own.
"This is just an example of the waste, fraud and mismanagement the DOE (Energy Department) has showed in working with the Yucca Mountain project," Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., said "The DOE is wasting money. They are either completely incompetent or so driven by arbitrary deadlines that they're doing shoddy work."
Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., said the report highlighted "the ongoing mismanagement of the Yucca Mountain project by the Department of Energy and is further evidence that the project is misguided and unmanageable."
"Every step in the process to target Nevada as the nation's nuclear waste dumping ground has been marked by incompetence and inconsistency," Ensign said.
Nevada's congressional delegation was not surprised by the report.
"Once again, this is just another example of the DOE's (Energy Department's) failure to follow the rules and continued efforts to waste more money on a ill-thought scheme to bury nuclear waste in Nevada," Rep. Jon Porter, R-Nev., said.
David Cherry, spokesman to Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., said she will review the report "with a special eye toward the decision by Yucca Mountain officials to ignore standing policy."
The report also discovered the department sold a drill it declared excessive even though site contractor Bechtel Nevada told Yucca Mountain officials it needed the drill. The department sold the drill for $67,000. Bechtel estimated a new one would cost $200,000, and it did not have enough money budgeted to buy one.
The inspector general's report, dated Sept. 27, also found the department gave two diagnostic trailers that belonged to the National Nuclear Security Administration over to the contractor that were not supposed to be sold. The department used the trailers for recording weapons test data, which has nothing to do with storing nuclear waste at Yucca.
"The NNSA determined that the trailers were missing when it conducted its physical inventory seven months after the disposal," the report said. The report said that normally the department would see if excess property could be used in another program or in another government agency and, if not, then auction the property to the highest bidder.
"The uneconomic disposal of Yucca Mountain property occurred because normal disposition procedures -- including offering available property to other department sites -- were not followed," according to the report. "The department lost the potential to recover funds that could have been used to satisfy pressing mission needs."
The inspector general's office found similar problems with property at the Nevada Test Site in March 2003 and other department sites in previous reports.
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Las Vegas Review-Journal
October 05, 2004
Agency lost money on equipment, audit says
By Steve Tetreault
Stephens Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON -- The Department of Energy in 2003 gave away 1,300 pieces of equipment no longer needed at Yucca Mountain, including a refurbished rock-boring machine and thousands of tons of iron and steel that could have raised more than $450,000 for the financially strapped nuclear waste project, federal auditors said.
A conveyer belt feeder that was never used and a generator listed as new were among the items turned over to a disposal contractor rather than sold at auction or offered to other federal agencies through normal procedures.
A refurbished rock-boring machine called a roadheader valued at $792,000 was put up for sale on the Internet by the contractor, who advertised it as being "in very good condition with only 165 hours of use."
Disposal of property estimated to carry a potential value of $1.75 million was detailed in a Sept. 27 report by the Energy Department inspector general that was made public Monday.
Auditors estimated the department lost $458,000 from "poor property management practices" when it rid itself of excess inventory after completing site studies for the proposed nuclear waste repository.
The department gave the contractor about 9,000 metric tons of property, "and the government received no monetary benefit from the sale of potentially reusable property," auditors said.
"With the uneconomic disposal of Yucca Mountain property, the department lost the potential to recover funds that could have been used to satisfy pressing mission needs," they said.
Auditors said two diagnostics trailers that belonged to the National Nuclear Security Administration for use at the Nevada Test Site were turned over mistakenly for disposal. And a drilling rig was sold after test site manager Bechtel Nevada requested it for transfer.
The report comes as the Energy Department is scrambling to avoid financial shortfalls that could cripple the Yucca Mountain Project.
Responding to the audit, DOE officials said they were revising their property management. But they defended their actions as the most cost-effective way to dispose of material they said had little value.
The property included 4,580 tons of scrap metal, plus fencing, piping, drill rigs and other heavy equipment, mining tools, water tanks and other industrial material that was stored in equipment yards and remote locations on the Yucca site, a DOE official said.
Critics said the report highlighted management problems in the Yucca Mountain Project.
"You've heard the phrase 'waste, fraud and abuse.' Now you can add mismanagement to that," said Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev. "We're not talking about chump change; this is a half-million dollars."
Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., is researching ways that Congress could force DOE to repay $458,000 to taxpayers, spokeswoman Amy Spanbauer said.
"Such disregard for the American taxpayer is simply unacceptable and indefensible," Gibbons said in a statement.
Rep. Jon Porter, R-Nev., said the department "has wasted U.S. tax dollars."
Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., said the report "highlights the ongoing mismanagement of the Yucca Mountain Project and is further evidence the project is misguided and unmanageable."
Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., said, "I can assure you that the half-million (dollars) is just the tip of the iceberg. The more auditors probe they will find millions and millions in waste."
Government rules require offering excess equipment to other federal agencies or selling it at auction. But auditors said DOE paid $73,000 to a contractor to dispose of the material.
A DOE spokesman identified the contractor as Toxco Inc., a metals recycling company in Oak Ridge, Tenn.
Responding to the audit, John Arthur, the Yucca project's deputy director, said the department chose the most cost-effective method to get rid of the material. He said some of it had been sitting around after being shipped to Nevada when DOE abandoned repository studies in Texas and Washington state in 1987.
The equipment had little value after "years of nonuse and harsh exposure to the desert environment," Arthur said.
The material that did have value was limited because of its age, remote location and lack of maintenance records, he said.
But inspectors said they found that 70 percent of the equipment was less than 10 years old and still had value. The department's financial estimates were unreliable because of failure to inventory the age and condition of the equipment, they said.
"The financial advantage of disposing of excess property was shifted, essentially in its entirety, from the government to the disposal contractor," auditors said.
Arthur said disposal rules would have required the equipment to have been surveyed for possible radiological contamination at a cost of more than $250 per metric ton.
"Since there was 9,000 metric tons of property, these radiological release surveys would have cost the program over a million dollars, which exceeded any estimated value of the property," he said.
Auditors said the disposal contractor identified five items that were contaminated out of 1,300 turned over for disposal.
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Las Vegas SUN
October 05, 2004
Audit: Government lost $458,000 giving away Yucca Mountain items
Associated Press
Audit: Government lost $458,000 giving away Yucca Mountain items LAS VEGAS (AP) - The federal Energy Department lost $458,000 in 2003 giving away equipment it deemed no longer needed for a financially strapped national nuclear waste dump in Nevada, auditors said.
A never-used conveyer belt feeder and a generator listed as new were among 1,300 items with a potential value of $1.75 million turned over to a contractor for disposal, according to a report made public Monday by the Energy Department inspector general in Washington, D.C.
The Sept. 27 report blamed the Energy Department for "poor property management practices" when it rid itself of excess inventory after completing site studies for the proposed Yucca Mountain national nuclear waste repository, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas.
It said the material could have been auctioned or offered to other federal agencies. Items included a refurbished $792,000 rock-boring machine called a roadheader that the contractor advertised for sale as being "in very good condition with only 165 hours of use."
A department spokesman identified the contractor as Toxco Inc., a metals recycling company in Oak Ridge, Tenn.
John Arthur, Yucca Mountain project deputy director, defended the giveaway as the most cost-effective way to get rid of the material. He said some items had been shipped to Nevada when the Energy Department abandoned repository studies in Texas and Washington state in 1987.
The equipment had little value after "years of nonuse and harsh exposure to the desert environment," Arthur said.
Auditors said the Energy Department paid $73,000 to dispose of the material and "lost the potential to recover funds that could have been used to satisfy pressing mission needs."
They said two diagnostics trailers that belonged to the National Nuclear Security Administration for use at the Nevada Test Site were turned over mistakenly for disposal.
A drilling rig was sold after test site manager Bechtel Nevada requested it for transfer.
The report comes with the Energy Department scrambling for funds to keep plans on track to open the repository in 2010. The plan is to entomb 77,000 tons of high-level radioactive waste now stored at reactors in 39 states.
Critics said the report highlighted Yucca Mountain management problems.
"You've heard the phrase 'waste, fraud and abuse.' Now you can add mismanagement to that," said Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev. "We're not talking about chump change; this is a half-million dollars."
Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., was researching ways for Congress to force the Energy Department to repay $458,000 to taxpayers, spokeswoman Amy Spanbauer said.
Arthur said the material that had value was limited because of its age, remote location and lack of maintenance records. He said disposal rules would have required radiological contamination surveys at more than $250 per metric ton.
"Since there was 9,000 metric tons of property, these radiological release surveys would have cost the program over a million dollars, which exceeded any estimated value of the property," he said.
Auditors said the disposal contractor identified five contaminated items out of 1,300 turned over for disposal.
Inspectors said 70 percent of the equipment was less than 10 years old and still had value. They called the department's financial estimates unreliable because of failure to inventory the age and condition of the equipment.
"The financial advantage of disposing of excess property was shifted, essentially in its entirety, from the government to the disposal contractor," auditors said.
---Information from: Las Vegas Review-Journal, http://www.lvrj.com
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Reno Gazette-Journal
October 05, 2004
Yucca agency wasted money, watchdog report concludes
Doug Abrahms
WASHINGTON — The agency overseeing the construction of a nuclear waste site at Yucca Mountain gave away mining equipment and other gear that could have been sold, saving taxpayers money, according to an inspector general´s report released Monday.
The Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management paid a contractor $73,000 to take title to mammoth drills, generators and other equipment worth at least $385,000, the report said.
According to the inspector general, the agency received no money for:
* A little-used piece of equipment to drill tunnels that cost nearly $800,000. The inspector general found similar used equipment listed for sale on the Internet at up to $563,000.
* Two power generators that cost $68,000 and actually increased in value.
* Thousands of tons of iron and steel that could have been sold for scrap.
“What a waste of money,’ said U.S. Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev. “Half a million dollars in most people´s lives is a lot of money.’
The agency is pushing to license and build a deep tunnel to store nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain, about 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas. The project´s estimated price tag is $53 billion.
Government officials hope to start accepting waste at Yucca Mountain from nuclear power plants by 2010, although many experts expect the project will be delayed several years.
The agency said that most of the material it gave away was old fencing, pipes and other junk equipment that lacked value.
To sell the equipment, the government would have required a radiation test because it was housed near the Nevada Test Site, where nuclear bombs were detonated in the past. Those assessments would have cost more than the value of the equipment, the agency said.
Allen Benson, a spokesman for the Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management, said Monday the office would have no comment beyond what was included in the report.
The inspector general´s office, which monitors and audits the agency and points out problems, said the agency didn´t know the quantity or value of its inventory. Besides the loss of taxpayer money from giving away the equipment, the agency might need those items again and have to buy new ones, including a drill rig, the inspector general said.
“This report highlights the ongoing mismanagement of the Yucca Mountain project by the Department of Energy and is further evidence that the project is misguided and unmanageable,’ said U.S. Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev. “Every step in the process to target Nevada as the nation´s nuclear waste dumping ground has been marked by incompetence and inconsistency.’
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Island Packet
October 03, 2004
Yucca Mountain not 'best thing'
To The Packet:
Your Sept. 24 editorial, "America needs cohesive plan for nuclear disposal: Communities around the nation need Yucca Mountain," correctly pointed out that the nation sorely needs a cohesive plan for disposing of nuclear waste. But you are way off the mark in asserting that "the best thing America has going is the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste disposal site in Nevada."
Yucca Mountain is an unsafe and dangerous choice for a repository that must protect people and the environment for thousands of years. The site was selected solely for political reasons in spite of its obvious flaws. Moving deadly nuclear waste from existing storage locations to a site that is incapable of isolating it for the time required is just compounding the problem, passing an environmental time bomb on to future generations.
The federal government has known for years that Yucca Mountain is not a suitable nuclear waste disposal site. Yet the Energy Department stubbornly has refused to face facts and admit it made a mistake. Instead of advocating for a Yucca Mountain program that's going nowhere, South Carolina and other states with nuclear waste that needs disposing should be joining Nevada in pressuring the feds to stop throwing good money and resources after bad and get on with the task of finding an acceptable and safe solution to the problem. Now that the federal courts have weighed in on the side of Nevada, the time may be ripe for such action.
Joseph C. Strolin,
Administrator
Planning Division
Nevada Agency for Nuclear Projects
Office of the Governor
Carson City, Nevada
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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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