Yucca Mountain News Clips - Sunday, October 9, 2005

Yucca Mountain News Clips
Sunday, October 9, 2005
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Las Vegas Review-Journal
October 09, 2005

EDITORIAL: News flash: More Yucca blunders

DOE paid bonuses to contractor for shoddy or late work

To the old adage about nothing being certain in life but death and taxes, perhaps it's now time to add "bungling by Department of Energy bureaucrats."

Ongoing problems with the DOE's Yucca Mountain project have been well-documented for years. And now a government audit has added another log to the raging fire.

The audit found that the DOE paid millions in incentive bonuses to Yucca management contractor Bechtel SAIC for work that was either late or unacceptable. From February 2001 through September 2004, the DOE paid $43.4 million in incentives. The audit challenged $3.99 million of that as being awarded "even though Bechtel delivered poor quality work and missed deadlines." Among the dubious payments cited was $2 million for work Bechtel did on a license application for the nuclear repository.

The waste could even be more significant the audit found, concluding that "total costs of inappropriate incentive fees cannot be determined."

Bechtel officials, of course, may have a different perspective. They said they "take the report seriously and will review it carefully." Good. But the fact that DOE officials accepted the findings lends credence to criticism that the agency is rife with mismanagement.

For instance, the audit found DOE managers failed to identify acceptable performance levels or even how to measure the quality of the contractor's work. There were also no procedures to adjust the awards for late or poor work.

Who needs standards, after all, when millions of taxpayer dollars and the safety of a potential nuclear waste dumping ground are at stake?

Paul Golan, the principal deputy director of the Yucca Mountain report, didn't dispute the audit's conclusions. "I will use this report to develop a comprehensive corrective action plan that will provide clearer and more objective standards," he said in a letter responding to the audit.

Mr. Golan ought to do much more than that.

First, some of those involved in the problems documented should be terminated. The failure of DOE managers to implement even basic safeguards would never be tolerated in a private-sector project of this magnitude.

Second, the DOE should demand that Bechtel reimburse taxpayers for any inappropriate financial awards the company received.

Third, the DOE should reconsider the entire incentive program, given that it doesn't seem to have had any affect on the quality or timeliness of the work produced. Yucca Mountain is years behind schedule, for goodness sake.

On the bright side, however, the constant DOE bumbling offers more and more hope to Nevadans that this dubious project will never ever come to fruition.

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Las Vegas SUN
October 09, 2005

Hearing the truth about Yucca

By Matt Huffman and Launce Rake <lrake@lasvegassun.com>
Las Vegas Sun

If you want to know the truth about Yucca Mountain, the truth -- as any alien-hunting "X-Files" fan knows -- is out there.

Call a public hearing on Yucca Mountain, and you'll find the "truth" is sometimes way, way out there.

In a series of Environmental Protection Agency public hearings this week on radiation standards at Yucca Mountain, speakers invoked science, the law and even God in their arguments.

Sometimes they even spoke on topic.

Public hearings are not created by intelligent design; they often evolve. Given that humans are involved, that can mean many things.

The EPA set out to gather comment on a technical, serious issue. And early in the four days of hearings there were technical, serious comments.

But hold a Yucca Mountain meeting and your agenda doesn't mean a thing. People will be there to debate the issue of nuclear waste, Yucca Mountain and why the Red Sox lost in three straight. (There are bonus points if you can connect the three.)

Mickey Jay, a Las Vegas resident who said she represented the Tule Springs Preservation Committee, the Nevada Equestrian Safety Coalition and "future generations who are not here to speak for themselves," told the EPA that the dump was not a good idea.

"A single repository makes no sense," Jay said. She reiterated the points made by many before her, that transportation of the waste would be unsafe and that the nuclear waste generated by the country's reactors should stay where it is now.

"This can have untold effects on everybody, not just the West, the whole world," Jay said.

But not everyone lives in that world.

Fred Toomey, an 80-year-old ironworker who worked at the Nevada Test Site for three decades, called for more nuclear reactors to solve the energy crisis and scoffed at the alleged dangers of radiation.

"They're living, there's a big city right now where they blowed the atomic bomb up," he said, referring to the Japanese cities Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the only places, so far, bombed with nuclear weapons in wartime.

Richard DeKlever, a quality assurance engineer at the Nevada Test Site for most of the last 20 years, said he had no problems with the EPA's proposed standards.

Radiation, he said, has been good for him.

"Nuclear science enhances life," he said.

And it's the gift that keeps on giving.

DeKlever said the country needs not just one, but nine -- yes, nine -- nuclear waste dumps over the next century to hold the anticipated waste.

And don't tell anyone this, but John Snyder, an Ohio native, said he was on a secret mission to Nevada.

In front of God, man and -- perhaps more importantly -- the federal government, he said that people will soon have the technology to make radioactive waste safe.

Really?

"God has shown me this in visions," he said.

Snyder added that there has never been "a nuclear accident that killed hundreds or thousands of people."

He's technically right on that point -- the United Nations says 56 people were "directly" killed by the 1986 Chernobyl reactor meltdown, although over time it is expected to take 4,000 lives.

EPA officials politely said they were accustomed to comments that are not as, well, narrowly defined as the subjects of their hearings. "There are issues that people bring up that we don't have a role in," said the Environmental Protection Agency's Betsy Forinash. "But that doesn't mean the comments don't count.

"Every comment gets considered."

And that's the truth.

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Las Vegas SUN
October 09, 2005

Terrorism on track?

Las Vegas urged to ban hazardous materials on rail cars

By Benjamin Grove <grove@lasvegassun.com>
Sun Washington Bureau Chief

WASHINGTON -- Las Vegas and a handful of other "target cities" are sitting on a terrorist threat -- hazardous material shipments -- that could be a far more immediate risk than nuclear waste transports, a leading environmental consultant says.

Fred Millar said Las Vegas, as an entertainment capital, should pursue a "hazmat" transport ban similar to one in Washington, D.C., which is in the middle of a ground-breaking legal fight to prohibit the shipping of certain materials within 2.2 miles of the U.S. Capitol.

"The point is to find out how you reduce the terrorist risk," said Millar, who consults for the District of Columbia on the issue. "Getting these materials out of town is a no-brainer."

Millar was in Las Vegas last week meeting with local officials to urge them to join the fight. Four other cities -- Baltimore, Boston, Cleveland and Chicago -- have introduced ordinances banning some hazardous waste shipments, but the District of Columbia is the first to pass one.

In Las Vegas, Union Pacific's rail line runs parallel to the Strip, about a half mile west, and the concern about rail cars with hazardous waste isn't new.

On Dec. 31, 2003, a Federal Railroad Administration inspector came to Nevada because of what was then a "credible terrorist threat" and found six unattended tank cars intended for chlorine gas 13 miles southwest of McCarran International Airport and four unattended tank cars at Union Pacific's Henderson rail yard north of Interstate 215 and west of Stephanie Street.

Las Vegas officials have fought to keep nuclear waste out of the valley -- the city has an ordinance and Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman has pledged to stand in front of any truck carrying waste -- but Millar said hazardous material is as much a threat.

"My position to them is: You have city officials saying they are going to stop nuclear waste, but you won't stop chlorine?" said Millar, who was paid by the Clark County Yucca Mountain Nuclear Waste Advisory Committee to brief its government, university and citizen members.

Millar advised them to act now as a show of political mettle and to build credibility for potential future fights over nuclear waste shipments.

He is pushing the city to pass an ordinance modeled on the ordinances in the other cities that ban from certain urban areas four classes of hazardous shipments: toxic gases; toxic liquids and solids; and the highest classes of both explosives and flammables.

That would include chlorine, nearly all of which is shipped by rail because it is safer than highways. Millar said the explosion of one chlorine tanker could kill thousands and create a deadly cloud that would stretch for miles.

Millar told city officials that Las Vegas was not "safe enough."

Goodman said he wasn't shrinking from any fight. He said he was interested in expanding the city ordinance that bars high-level nuclear waste from traveling through the city to include other forms of highly hazardous material.

The question is if such a law would be enforceable or even legal.

Las Vegas City Manager Doug Selby said an ordinance like the one Millar was pitching might be similar to one torpedoed about 20 years ago. He said he wants to investigate that and then bring the matter to the City Council.

In 1985 or 1986, the Council adopted an ordinance that required special city permits be obtained by those transporting hazardous materials through the city, said Val Steed, a chief deputy city attorney.

That ordinance was challenged in federal court by Union Pacific, and in 1989 a federal judge issued an injunction in the railroad company's favor, Steed said.

Clark County Commissioner Bruce Woodbury said that while the commission is always looking for strategies to keep the public safe, local officials likely would have to prove there were viable alternative routes in order for any new ordinance to hold up in court.

Rail industry officials have argued that nearly two centuries ago the nation set out to construct railroads that linked cities -- and now critics are impossibly suggesting they go around them.

Rail officials say that re-routing shipments would create massive new costs and logistical problems. They also argue that it would increase safety risks by increasing handling and lengthening transportation times and distances.

Rail officials also are quick to note that local ordinances banning local shipments are not constitutional. The Constitution's commerce clause gives the federal government the power to regulate interstate commerce and local shipping restrictions are prohibited, rail officials argue.

The nation relies on its current safe, efficient shipments of hazmats like chlorine, Association of American Railroads spokesman Tom White said. Hazardous material shipping bans in the nation's most populous cities would effectively grind the nation to a halt, White said.

"The net result would be to make it impossible to ship these products," White said.

Union Pacific spokesman Mark Davis said there has not been any recent study of the potential cost and logistical challenges that would be involved in either shipping material on alternate Western routes to avoid Las Vegas, or in constructing a bypass track around the city. Those costs likely would be paid by local or state governments, he said.

Millar acknowledges that it would not be easy to ship certain materials around Las Vegas. Still, rail companies routinely re-route certain materials for various reasons, he said.

Millar said there are at least three alternate rail routes and four major highway routes that would keep hazardous materials out of Las Vegas. That would route them near other cities, but not cities with such a high value to terrorists, he said.

"This is hardly a radical idea," he said.

Editor's note: Sun reporter Dan Kulin contributed to this story.

Benjamin Grove is the Sun's Washington bureau chief. He can be reached at (202) 662-7436 or by e-mail at grove@lasvegassun.com.

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Las Vegas SUN
October 09, 2005

Billy V.

The kingmaker

By Steve Kanigher <steve@lasvegassun.com>
Las Vegas Sun

One of the 10 most powerful individuals in Nevada is also one of its most anonymous.

In fact, if average Nevadans know Billy Vassiliadis at all, they know him for his deeds, not his name.

His R&R Partners Inc. of Las Vegas, the state's largest advertising agency, promotes the city's tourism industry worldwide. In so doing, it devised a popular slogan -- "What happens here, stays here" -- that has become a national catch phrase.

He represents gaming, the state's most powerful industry, as a lobbyist before the Nevada Legislature, and also is a pitchman for utilities, liquor suppliers, transportation systems, health care providers, homebuilders, mining companies and Clark County.

Consistently ranked in media polls as one of the state's 10 most powerful leaders, he has been a key figure in numerous high-profile political campaigns and ballot measures, including the last four winning gubernatorial contests and the last four successful school bond issues.

And he has been an adviser to governors, a player in the recruitment and financing of political candidates and a middleman in disputes over growth, taxation, race relations, medical malpractice reform and other issues involving competing special-interest groups.

So while Billy V, as he is often called, flies under the radar as far as public recognition is concerned, his clout is so pervasive and so widely recognized within the state's corridors of power that he has been called Nevada's "shadow governor."

One of the few to question the extent of his clout is Billy V himself.

"It's absurd to think I'm that powerful," Vassiliadis said in an interview. "If I have influence, it's all derived. It's not direct. If I have any influence, it's because I represent a certain industry, an industry that is very strong, that is very important to this community. But what do I do to have power?

"I didn't run for office. I'm not a governor. I don't have institutional power. I don't run a large company. I don't have economic power. I don't have people power. I don't employ tens of thousands of people.

"I'm not trying to be obtuse. I can see where perceptions get built because I do have good relationships with people who do have real power."

Vassiliadis presides over one of the broadest networks of political and business contacts in the state, something he built through smarts, hustle and being in the right places at the right times.

"He's got one of the strongest strategic minds of anyone I have ever worked with," Scott Craigie, a former R&R executive, said.

"He finds real solutions to complex problems. With the kinds of egos and personalities involved in these complex situations, you can't push these people away from their goals ... He's able to find common ground among people so that everyone comes out with a win."

Vassiliadis has detractors as well, although most fear speaking out because of his clout. One of the few high-profile individuals in Nevada to challenge Vassiliadis and other lobbyists publicly is former Sen. Joe Neal, D-North Las Vegas, who once stood on the Senate floor and argued that the gaming lobby was corrupting the state's political process.

"He gets his power by being able to manipulate public opinion through his advertising agency," Neal said. "He can get people elected or put other people down. He kind of has a shield at the ad agency that he can hide behind. He can act like a good guy or come around and kick you in the butt."

That Vassiliadis can wield so much clout without holding an elected office owes much to several factors:

* Nevada's Republican and Democratic parties lack influence when it comes to candidate selection. Many political observers commonly refer to the state as being run by the "gaming party" because casinos are Nevada's largest campaign donors and most candidates must support the industry to succeed.

* The Legislature relies heavily on lobbyists such as Vassiliadis for information and help with drafting bills because the lawmakers serve part time and have limited staff assistance.

* In Nevada, it is not unusual for political consultants such as Vassiliadis, a lifelong Democrat, to cross party lines to support a candidate. Such was the case when he helped Republican Kenny Guinn win gubernatorial contests in 1998 and 2002. In many other states, consultants usually align with only one party.

* Nevada advertising agencies such as R&R Partners have engaged both in political campaigns and in lobbying -- a practice uncommon elsewhere, according to Eric Herzik, a political science professor at UNR.

"Here in Nevada, the political process is largely conducted through individual power brokers," Herzik said.

Paul Brown, Southern Nevada director of the Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada, which represents organized labor and minority groups, also said Vassiliadis is able to retain clout because Las Vegas -- despite being one of the nation's most rapidly growing major cities -- is still a small town in many respects.

"There are relatively few movers and shakers, a small group of people who make the decisions," Brown said.

Vassiliadis and R&R have not been paid for any political campaigns since the 1994 election, but he has remained a nonpaid consultant to many politicians he considers friends. He is such a respected political guru that when President Bush's top adviser, Karl Rove, came to a private luncheon in Las Vegas in May to discuss Nevada affairs, Vassiliadis was among the guests.

NO RETIREMENT YET

Although he can afford to retire, the 49-year-old Vassiliadis figures he has five to seven years of work left in him and still logs more than 50 hours a week. That is down, friends say, from the 70- to 80-hour workweeks that used to be his norm.

"He's a demon for work," said Don Williams, a veteran Las Vegas political consultant.

"He knows what everybody in town is thinking and doing. He spends so much time amongst them."

And by mixing with the board members of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, R&R's biggest advertising client, Vassiliadis "knows what all the wealthy people are up to," Williams said.

"He's one of the best political networkers that I've ever seen," Williams said. "Billy can talk directly to the money people."

As for his own politics, Vassiliadis is left of center.

He strongly backs public education -- he is a past recipient of the Clark County Public Education Foundation Hero Award and has run the ad campaigns for all county school bond issues since 1988.

He is an ardent foe of efforts to ship the nation's high-level nuclear waste to Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

And he has been outspoken in support of hospital visitations and other rights for gay couples.

A well-dressed but rarely flashy man with collar-length gray hair and a dark moustache, Vassiliadis has a Mediterranean complexion befitting his Greek heritage -- and a middle-age bulge.

He can be prickly and deliver blunt one-liners when confronted with questions he doesn't like. But his humor is self-deprecating, he is modest and he is generally mild-mannered -- at least as mild-mannered as a die-hard fan of baseball's Chicago Cubs and football's Chicago Bears can be.

He and his wife, Rosemary, deputy aviation director at McCarran International Airport, have two teenage children. They live in a five-bedroom, $1.4 million Summerlin home and own a Lake Tahoe retreat. Boating on the lake is one of his passions.

So is golf -- he shoots in the low 90s -- and reading.

Studies early American history

His favorite period of American history is the early 20th century "because it was a tremendous period of evolution, everything from automobiles to manufacturing to the telephone to television to air travel."

He also is quite charitable: A Vassiliadis Family Scholarship is awarded to county high school graduates interested in pursuing degrees in communications, public relations or advertising. He also has lent his name to causes such as the March of Dimes Birth Defects Foundation, Opportunity Village and National Kidney Foundation of Nevada.

Born in Athens, Greece, Vassiliadis grew up on Chicago's North Side as an only child amid modest circumstances, typified by the fact that he spent his first 14 years sleeping in the dining room.

His father, who passed away 15 years ago, was a church caretaker and Greek teacher in an after-school program. His mother, who now lives in Las Vegas, sold jewelry.

His parents were fervent anti-Communists. After World War II, Vassiliadis' father met his mother in Romania and then smuggled her out of that Soviet-occupied country using false passports.

"I would say my passion for and my interest in politics came primarily from my parents," Vassiliadis said. "My mother to this day could probably name 30 prime ministers from around the world."

A teenaged Vassiliadis ended up in Las Vegas after his father introduced his son to an old Greek friend, then-UNLV professor Ernest Searles, who convinced the youngster in 1974 to attend college here.

At UNLV, Vassiliadis rose rapidly through the ranks of the Young Democrats club and developed an insider's knack for Nevada politics. His instructor was professor Dina Titus, now the state Senate minority leader and a 2006 Democratic gubernatorial candidate.

"He came out of Chicago, so he had a natural bent for politics," Titus said. "He was brash and bold. He was energetic and wanted to get involved. I'm not surprised where he is today."

While pursuing a bachelor's degree in political science, Vassiliadis set up campaign signs for 1978 Democratic gubernatorial candidate Bob Rose -- a future Nevada Supreme Court justice. Many of Vassiliadis' most important political contacts -- including Williams, Craigie, Kent Oram and the late Jim Joyce -- were made during that race.

Vassiliadis insists he is not "conscious" of his considerable networking abilities.

"There's not a skill to it," he said. "It's more: I don't lie, I don't cheat, I'm loyal, I do what I say I'm going to do and I work hard."

John Moran first victory

His first major political victory occurred in 1982 when he guided the late John Moran to the Clark County sheriff's post despite the fact that Moran started as a 30-percentage point underdog. It was that race that brought him to the attention of Nevada power broker and R&R Advertising founder Sig Rogich, who hired him to work at the agency shortly after that election.

"I always told him that it is not difficult to get business," Rogich said. "The real key was keeping it, and he understood that."

As Rogich increased his role in national Republican politics, Vassiliadis quickly moved up at R&R, becoming its president in the late 1980s.

Vassiliadis' emergence as a power broker began when he ran the ad campaign for Bob Miller's successful 1990 gubernatorial election and became a salaried member of Miller's Kitchen Cabinet over the next eight years.

"If there was a political question, I would ask what he thought of it, who would be opposed or supportive, and what their arguments would be," Miller said. "I can't think of an instance when I thought he was wrong."

Vassiliadis was recruited by Rogich in 1998 to serve as a nonpaid consultant to Miller's successor, Gov. Kenny Guinn. Vassiliadis accepted because he was a longtime friend of Guinn's, who had been the chairman of successful school bond issue drives that R&R promoted and also was the chief executive officer of PriMerit Bank, an R&R client.

"He will always tell you how it is, and he won't sugar coat it," Guinn said of Vassiliadis. "He will be blunt and to the point. He will tell you when you are going wrong and when you are doing right."

Vassiliadis says of his consulting skills: "One of my strengths is I've kind of got a blue-collar feeling. I'm not detached from what people are probably thinking and that goes back to my Chicago roots and what really matters.

Jim Joyce's mantle

"I also think that they feel like I'm giving them my most honest possible read. I'm not blowing smoke up their butts. I don't tell them what they want to hear."

As a megalobbyist, Vassiliadis has risen to the top of the ladder of the nonelected movers and shakers in the hallways of the Legislature, inheriting a mantle once worn by Joyce.

"The most important lesson Jim Joyce taught me: You better know the last issue of your career," Vassiliadis said. "You better know the one that's worth burning the house down for. What he meant by that is you don't have your friends walk the plank. You don't treat every bill as if it's your last one and go and stomp and storm over it.

"You approach the legislative process as a long-term effort. And you build relationships by taking people off the hook."

His most powerful client is the Nevada Resort Association, an affiliation that has led Vassiliadis to fight for a broader state tax base that does not lean too heavily on gaming. He has bristled at proposals that Nevada's tax on gross gaming receipts -- by far the lowest in the nation -- should be increased to help pay for growth.

And while he has fought successfully for bills limiting casinos' liability for wrongdoing on their property and for drunken driving accidents caused by their customers, he doesn't always get his way on gaming legislation.

That was the case earlier this year when he advocated unsuccessfully on behalf of Station Casinos, Boyd Gaming and developer Focus Property Group for legislation that would have made it harder for residents to prevent casinos from encroaching into neighborhoods.

More often than not, though, he comes through for his clients.

Vassiliadis is considered such a vital cog in Nevada's political process that he is frequently asked by elected officials to mediate disputes among warring special interests.

"People trust him, and they recognize he's a great facilitator so they use him in that capacity," Nevada Resort Association President Bill Bible said.

A noteworthy example occurred in 1998 when Vassiliadis hosted a meeting of organized labor, gaming and Rogich to reaffirm then-gubernatorial candidate Guinn's opposition to a Republican initiative that would have banned unions from making campaign donations without membership approval.

Vassiliadis helped to convince the Republicans to drop their proposed ballot initiative while convincing the unions to drop a competing petition drive.

"Probably the most overstated thing about me, other than my being a 'juice man,' is how many problems I've resolved because I really don't," Vassiliadis said.

"I hope I bring some calm to it. I hope I bring some focus. I hope I'm good at reminding everybody what needs to happen, what the deadline is and what the end game is and what the goal is and that there's enough in common here to keep going."

Growing R&R's business

Since agreeing to purchase R&R from Rogich in 1992, Vassiliadis, as partner and chief executive officer, has more than tripled its staff -- to 250 employees from 80 -- and nearly tripled its annual billings -- to $225 million from $80 million. And he changed its name to R&R Partners.

Last year, R&R was the nation's 61st largest ad agency, with estimated revenue of $27.2 million, according to Adweek magazine.

It has grown from a Las Vegas-centric ad shop under Rogich to a regional shop under Vassiliadis, who believes R&R will become one of the nation's top 50 ad agencies within three years based on annual revenue. While it is best known as the ad agency for the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, a partnership that began in 1980, R&R also represents numerous casinos.

Adweek in recent years has graded R&R in the B minus, C plus range, praising the firm for its tourism ads while downgrading it for generating a low amount of revenue per employee compared to other agencies.

And the LVCVA board is considering major revisions to its trademark policies and internal operations after the Las Vegas Sun reported earlier this year on a secret agreement in which the authority transferred the rights to the "What happens here" slogan to R&R. A law firm hired by the authority has recommended that the LVCVA retain its own trademark rights.

But Vassiliadis has been lavishly praised for R&R's promotion of Las Vegas and its ability to measure the nation's pulse, as was evident after the 9/11 terrorist attacks when the agency devised an ad campaign focused on Las Vegas as a good escape.

As he looks to the future, Vassiliadis has given himself -- through his four-for-four run in recent gubernatorial races and the enormously successful Las Vegas tourism ad campaign -- a high standard against which he inevitably will be measured.

North Las Vegas Mayor and LVCVA board member Mike Montandon said that the campaign has another year or two to go.

"But that next campaign has to be better," he said. "That's the way marketing is."

Steve Kanigher can be reached at 259-4075 or at steve@lasvegassun.com.

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Las Vegas Review-Journal
October 08, 2005

Fledgling political party puts focus on energy policies

Carson City-based group led by 77-year-old

By Sean Whaley
Review-Journal Capital Bureau

CARSON CITY -- A new political party with the goal of energy self-reliance through expanded oil drilling and nuclear power plant construction has filed with the secretary of state's office.

The American Energy Party, based in the capital, filed papers on Sept. 30. The chairman is Mike Oliver, a 77-year-old with expertise in energy matters.

Proposed parties must collect 7,914 signatures by Aug. 11, 2006, to qualify as a party with a slate of candidates for the Nevada ballot.

"Either we're going to become energy independent or they (oil producing countries) are going to harass us to death," Oliver said Friday.

Collecting signatures to qualify for the ballot shouldn't be difficult, he said. "People are paying so much for gas, we should get a lot of signatures."

Even if the party doesn't get enough signatures to qualify for the 2006 ballot, the party will serve as a source of information on how and why the nation needs to end its dependence on foreign oil, he said.

Oliver, who wrote an article called "Drill or Die," said the country needs 500 new nuclear power plants to win energy independence from foreign countries. Oil revenues generated in other countries in some cases are being used to fund terrorism, he said.

The article is on the Internet at energytruth.com.

Additional oil drilling, including in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, is also a goal of the party, he said.

But Oliver said a nuclear waste repository proposed for Yucca Mountain, 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas, is unnecessary even with an increased number of nuclear power plants.

"We need to recycle the waste," he said.

It could be made harmless in a much shorter period of time through recycling than burial, Oliver said. Those with the technological know-how to create recycling facilities won't bother, however, if there is no guarantee that the technology will be licensed and put to use, he said.

Oliver has no patience for environmental groups, either. They claim to work for the people, but they actually have held up the construction of new power plants of all types, helping to drive the cost of energy higher, he said.

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Los Alamos Monitor
October 08, 2005

Anastasio names deputy

CAROL A. CLARK, lanews@lamonitor.com, Monitor Staff Writer

Michael Anastasio announced Wednesday that John Mitchell, who has served Bechtel as president and general manager at three DOE sites, will become deputy laboratory director should their team win the Los Alamos National Laboratory management contract.

During an interview in a conference room at Los Alamos National Bank, Anastasio and Mitchell displayed good-natured confidence that their team, Los Alamos National Security (LANS), will place first when the competition concludes on Dec. 1.

If that happens, Anastasio, director of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and president of the LANS team, will become LANL director.

Anastasio has some 25 years experience working with people at LANL. He has a brother living in Albuquerque and he knows New Mexico overall quite well.

He said the Los Alamos community and the lab are important to each other's success and promotes each supporting the other.

"It's important to get the lab on the footing of thinking of the future again and of all the great things we are doing and can do, the outstanding science and the contributions we are making to our national security," Anastasio said.

The LANS team includes the University of California, Bechtel, BWX Technologies and Washington Group International.

The LANS Board of Governors includes very high-level experts from a number of different fields applicable to operating and managing the lab, said LANS external affairs and communication manager Jeff Berger.

The LANS board chair is Gerald Parsky who also is chair of the UC Board of Regents. LANS board vice chair is Tom Nash who is president of Bechtel National. Among the dozen board members is New Mexico Sen. Nick Salazar.

LANS professes to support a strong community plan centered on economic development, education and giving.

They have already demonstrated their seriousness by supporting Los Alamos National Laboratory Foundation's ninth annual conference on Education, contributing $25,000 to the United Way of Northern New Mexico and the United Way of Santa Fe County in September, and sponsoring the Los Alamos Harvest Festival set for Nov. 5-6.

During the interview, Anastasio praised Mitchell for the breadth and depth of his experience and expertise.

"John and I have worked together for over 10 years in various roles," Anastasio said. "His experience combines defense programs weapons expertise, research and testing support, nuclear facilities operations and nuclear weapons components manufacturing."

Anastasio also praised Mitchell's performance over the last nine years in managing three multibillion dollar DOE contracts for Yucca Mountain in Nevada, the Y-12 National Security Complex in Tennessee and the Nevada Test Site.

Mitchell successfully managed culture change while improving overall operations, safety, security and cost performance, he said.

Anastasio and Mitchell support the lab in its mission to ensure national security and apply science and technology to the important problems of current times, they said.

Mitchell served for 30 years in the U.S. Navy as Strategic Systems Programs director, Navy Theater Missile Defense general manager and Strategic Systems Programs technical director.

Mitchell holds a bachelor of science in electrical engineering from Rice University and a master of science in physics from the Naval Postgraduate School.

Anastasio spoke of his own background with open candor.

He was born and raised in Washington, D.C., where his father worked for the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Justice in finance and accounting.

Anastasio's grandfather on his mother's side farmed wheat in Kansas. His father's father was an entrepreneur in Connecticut. "My parents met in Washington during the Roosevelt Administration and WWII," Anastasio said. "My father Julian served in the Army. My mother (Roberta) was a homemaker."

Anastasio said his wife Ann is an avid quilter and also teaches quilting. The couple has been married 35 years and have two daughters.

Alison is the oldest and just graduated from the University of Chicago with a degree in biology. Alexandra is earning her master's degree in education and plans to become a teacher.

The Anastasios are a musical family. His favorite style of music is classical and he has played the cello since he was about 10. Ann plays the viola. Anastasio's daughters play the violin.

Anastasio said he enjoys reading non-fiction, especially history. He is currently reading a book about climate change throughout the ages and its impact on humankind.

Anastasio joked that his favorite types of movies are "good movies".

"I enjoy any sport I can still play," he said laughing. "I've been playing racketball but have stopped while my knees heal from recent surgery."

Anastasio earned his bachelor's degree in physics from Johns Hopkins University and his M.A. and Ph.D. in theoretical nuclear physics from the State University of New York at Stony Brook.

Anastasio is the recipient of the 1990 DOE Weapons Recognition of Excellence Award for technical leadership in nuclear design. The award acknowledged his outstanding theoretical and experimental contributions to understanding boost physics. Anastasio is also a member of Sigma Pi Sigma, the national physics honor society.

---------------------------

Las Vegas SUN
October 07, 2005

Editorial: Going nuclear in Washington

Caliente's mayor hobnobs with pro-Yucca Mountain groups in the nation's capital

Las Vegas Sun

At first blush you wouldn't think any Nevadans would be attending a meeting of Yucca Mountain supporters in Washington. But there sat Caliente Mayor Kevin Phillips on Wednesday, raving about the mountain as the perfect site for a nuclear waste dump. The meeting was called by pro-Yucca groups working to get the repository, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas in Nye County, opened as soon as possible.

"We hear all the bad stuff about 'Yucky Mountain' but that site has great attributes," Phillips said at the meeting. Caliente, population 1,000, is in Lincoln County about 130 miles northeast of Las Vegas. Its most notable feature is a railroad. If Yucca Mountain is granted a license by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Caliente might see some business. A proposed Energy Department transportation plan calls for a new railroad line to be built there so that trains carrying nuclear waste could be switched eastward to Yucca Mountain.

Phillips' support of Yucca Mountain is rooted in his hope that it will mean jobs as the new line is constructed and Caliente becomes a switching point. This is the ultimate in shortsightedness. In January, flash flooding washed out railroad tracks near Caliente. Has the mayor thought about the consequences of a derailed train full of nuclear waste? Phillips should think more about his city, and more about the safety of the whole state, before turning his back on Nevada's long-standing fight against Yucca Mountain.

---------------------------

Las Vegas Review-Journal
October 07, 2005

YUCCA MOUNTAIN: Audit criticizes bonuses paid

Inspector general targets Energy Department's incentive fees to contractor

By Steve Tetreault
Stephens Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON -- The Department of Energy paid incentive fees to Yucca Mountain management contractor Bechtel SAIC for work that was found to be late or unacceptable, government auditors said in a report Thursday.

The company was awarded payments by the Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management "even though Bechtel delivered poor quality work and missed deadlines," the Energy Department inspector general said.

The inspector general challenged $3.99 million out of $43.4 million in incentives for work performed on the proposed Nevada nuclear waste repository between February 2001 and September 2004.

"The total costs of inappropriate incentive fees cannot be determined," the audit report said.

The payments questioned by auditors included $2 million with work Bechtel performed on a license application for the Yucca repository.

The findings are the latest blow to the nuclear waste project, which is years behind schedule and faces continued legal, political and technical challenges.

Nevada critics of the Yucca Mountain project seized on the audit.

Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., called on Bechtel SAIC to give back the challenged money and for the Department of Energy to cease awarding bonuses.

"I can't understand how DOE could not ask for the money back," Berkley said. "If a bank accidentally gave you money that is not in your account, you must return it. Same thing here, except Bechtel knew about it. This is a rip-off pure and simple."

The audit illustrates shoddy DOE management, Sens. Harry Reid, D-Nev., and John Ensign, R-Nev., said in a statement.

And Rep. Jim Gibbons, D-Nev., said: "To pay out millions upon millions of dollars in bonuses for incomplete work, poor performance, and unacceptable products is the height of government waste and mismanagement."

Rep. Jon Porter, R-Nev., said similar activity in the private sector would be a firing offense, "no questions asked."

Paul Golan, the principal deputy director of the Yucca project, said he accepted the audit findings.

"I will use this report to develop a comprehensive corrective action plan that will provide clearer and more objective performance standards," he said in a letter responding to the audit.

A DOE spokesman declined to comment further.

Jason Bohne, a spokesman for Bechtel SAIC in Las Vegas, said the audit was being reviewed.

"We stand by the work we have performed under the contract," Bohne said. "We take the report seriously and will review it carefully."

The incentives were written into the Bechtel SAIC contract, which was valued at about $3.2 billion for five years.

Bechtel SAIC and the Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management, which operates the Yucca program, signed a "cost plus incentive fee" contract, an arrangement designed to reward companies for meeting goals and performing work to required quality levels.

The contractor was offered an additional "super stretch incentive fee" if it would complete pre-license application technical documents ahead of schedule.

The contract contained opportunities for Bechtel to earn $50.9 million in "performance based incentives" in the deal's early years.

But auditors concluded that DOE managers failed to identify acceptable quality levels or specify how the contractors performance would be measured.

Also, no procedures existed to adjust the fees when deadlines were missed, the report said.

The investigators challenged incentives that the department paid in cases in which Bechtel needed more time to correct poor quality work and in which work scope was reduced because of poor performance.

As an example, auditors said DOE paid most of a $17.7 million incentive fee for work on documents supporting the Yucca Mountain site recommendation in December 2001 though Bechtel needed more time to correct inconsistencies.

The extra work caused a 22-day delay, auditors said.

DOE paid all but $125,786 of the incentive fee, they said, and reported that the delay "was due to events beyond the contractor's control."

---------------------------

Guardian
October 07, 2005

Energy Dept. Chief Slams Yucca Spending

By Erica Werner
Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Energy Department paid incentive money to its managing contractor on the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste dump, Bechtel SAIC, even though Bechtel turned in late and low-quality work, an Energy Department inspector general report said Thursday.

The inspector general questioned $4 million in incentives paid to Bechtel for work on the planned Nevada dump from 2001-2004 - nearly 10 percent of the total $43.4 million in incentives Bechtel received during that period.

``While the total cost of inappropriate incentive fee payments cannot be determined, we estimate that (the Energy Department's Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management) paid approximately $4 million even though Bechtel delivered poor quality work and missed deadlines,'' said the report.

The criticism comes as Yucca Mountain, approved by Congress in 2002 as the nation's repository for nuclear waste, has suffered a series of setbacks. The government was forced by an appeals court to rewrite its radiation safety standard for the dump, and internal e-mails surfaced last spring suggesting government workers on the dump had falsified data. The dump's opening date has been repeatedly delayed and is now expected in 2012 or later.

Paul Golan, director of the Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management, said in a letter to the inspector general that he agreed with the report's findings and would take corrective action. A DOE spokesman on Thursday declined comment beyond Golan's letter.

``We stand by the work we've performed under our contract. We take the report seriously and we're going to review it carefully,'' said Jason Bohne, spokesman for Bechtel in Las Vegas.

In one example, the report said Bechtel was paid the full fee to develop a system for tracking management issues and corrective actions, even though the system was determined to be unacceptable because it was not user-friendly.

In another example, it said Bechtel was offered a $2 million incentive for on-time completion of a ``Licensing Support Network'' that would post documents related to the development of Yucca Mountain on the Internet. The Energy Department determined Bechtel would not meet the March 2003 deadline, but instead of eliminating the incentive it used the money to create new and different incentives for Bechtel.

The total value of Bechtel's contract was $3.2 billion; it was eligible for $50 million in incentives and received $43.4 million of which the inspector general questioned $4 million.

Yucca Mountain is meant to hold 77,000 tons of nuclear waste for 10,000 years and beyond.

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Pahrump Valley Times
October 7, 2005

Caliente mayor frets over Yucca Mountain licensing

By Steve Tetreault
Washinton Bureau

WASHINGTON - Intense politicking in Nevada coupled with government stumbles on Yucca Mountain are affecting the nuclear waste project's supporters in the state, Caliente Mayor Kevin Phillips warned the Energy Department on Wednesday.

Phillips and a Nye County consultant attending a Yucca Mountain conference pressed an Energy Department speaker for signs of progress in the repository program that might buoy backers in Nevada.

Phillips said Nevadans' perceptions have been affected by last year's presidential campaign in which Yucca Mountain was an issue, coupled with licensing delays and the disclosure this spring of controversial emails that mention possible document falsification.

He said it is harder for supporters to argue that Yucca Mountain is a certainty, and would bring jobs and economic benefits.

"Those factors together has caused the 'inevitability concept' that many of us keep promoting to our friends to go down a little," Phillips said.

"Everybody has to understand this impacts the supportive Nevadan's ability to bring others into the fold with a constructive approach," Phillips said.

"Every time there is a slip, believability gets challenged," said Cash Jaszczak, a Las Vegas-based consultant to Nye County.

The Nevadans and industry advocates of the proposed nuclear waste repository sought clues from Eric Knox, associate director of the Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management.

But Knox said he could not offer new timelines for the delayed project as DOE works through licensing and technical issues.

"It's quality over quickness," Knox said. "But if we get to the right quality, the quickness will follow."

Any progress on the proposed repository continues to be slow and uncertain, Yucca advocates were told at the conference. About 30 executives representing nuclear utilities and waste transportation companies, and several rural Nevada repository proponents, met to assess the project.

They were told:

It could be next summer or fall before the Energy Department sends the Nuclear Regulatory Commission a repository license application to move the program forward, according to William Reamer, NRC director of the high level waste division.

Reamer said appeals at the NRC over whether the Energy Department should post draft applications to a licensing database may extend to the end of the year, effectively delaying the project.

DOE officials have said they would not file a final application until six months after the database is certified.

Congress is unlikely to add Yucca Mountain provisions to energy bills being passed to help Hurricane Katrina recovery, said Clint Williamson, a professional staff member on the Senate Energy Committee.

With lawmakers wanting to speed passage of Katrina bills, legislation to help Yucca Mountain "would prove to be very difficult to get through the Senate," Williamson said. Not the least of the opposition would come from Democratic Leader Harry Reid of Nevada.

"We all share the same concern. The program seems to be stalled," said Charles Pray, a nuclear waste adviser to the state of Maine and co-chairman of a Yucca Mountain advocacy group.

Some officials said there is an added aura of uncertainty how Yucca Mountain might be affected by an Energy Department nuclear waste reprocessing initiative said to be in the works.

The Energy Daily newsletter reported in July the office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management - which manages Yucca Mountain - was among DOE branches participating in the initiative.

DOE spokesman Craig Stevens said Wednesday he could not confirm the participation but added, "individuals throughout this department are working on ways to expand the use of nuclear energy throughout the country and the implications of that."

Paul Golan, Yucca Mountain acting director, also is conducting a comprehensive review of the project that could result in other changes.

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GovExec
October 07, 2005

Energy unit paid contractor award fees despite poor performance

By Kimberly Palmer
kpalmer@govexec.com

The Energy Department paid a contractor working on the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste project millions of dollars in incentive fees even though the company failed to meet performance requirements, the agency's inspector general reported Thursday.

Energy's Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management paid the award fees to Bechtel SAIC Co., a joint venture between the global construction company Bechtel Corp. and the information technology company Science Applications International Corp., even though the company had to take extra time to "correct poor quality work" and delivered unacceptable products, according to the report.

Bechtel SAIC won the five-year, $3.2 billion contract to manage and operate the Yucca Mountain Project in February 2001. Energy is preparing Yucca Mountain in Nevada as a site to store and safely dispose of nuclear waste.

The contract specified that if Bechtel SAIC helped Energy give a nuclear waste site recommendation to President Bush by Dec. 18, 2001, then it would receive an incentive award of $17.7 million. According to the IG report, the site recommendation documents provided by Bechtel SAIC were deemed unacceptable. The needed corrections delayed the recommendation by 22 days. Still, Energy paid Bechtel SAIC $17.5 million of the incentive fee.

The report blamed the lack of a plan clearly identifying the level of performance required for each incentive and how that performance would be measured, as well as a lack of documentation on the decision to award the fees. "It was unclear what rationale the fee determining official used when deciding the appropriate fee," the report stated.

The Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management agreed with the report's findings and said it would develop a corrective action plan.

Bechtel did not return a call seeking comment. An SAIC spokeswoman deferred calls to Bechtel SAIC Co., which did not return messages.

---------------------------

Guardian
October 07, 2005

U.S. Urged to Come Up With Plutonium Plan

By Jim Abrams
Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) - The absence of a government plan to consolidate weapons-grade plutonium is driving up storage and security costs and increasing the risks of accidental release of the highly hazardous material, experts said Friday.

The Energy Department also lacks the capability to fully monitor the condition of plutonium to ensure continued safe storage, Gene Aloise, director of natural resources and environment for the Government Accountability Office, testified to a House Energy subcommittee.

Charles Anderson, assistant secretary of environmental management, said a plan for consolidation would be ready within a year or two. He acknowledged that failure to consolidate the 50 metric tons of plutonium no longer needed for nuclear weapons ``would be a tremendous cost to the taxpayers.''

The General Accountability Office, the investigative office of Congress, estimated in a July report that it would cost $85 million a year to continue storing plutonium at the Hanford nuclear reservation in Washington and that the goal of cleaning up that site, now scheduled to be completed by 2035, is in question.

When nuclear weapons production stopped in 1989, the DOE had plutonium inventories at Hanford, Rocky Flats in Colorado, Los Alamos in New Mexico, the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California and the Savannah River Site in South Carolina.

Aloise noted that while DOE has not made a final decision on consolidation, it has proceeded with plans to establish adequate capacity to store the material at Savannah until it can be processed into a form for permanent disposition at Yucca Mountain, Nevada.

Anderson said the department had no current plans to further consolidate plutonium at Savannah, and that the DOE will not move any plutonium until all requirements are met.

Aloise said another problem was that the DOE has relied on individual sites to develop their own plans. He said one-fifth of Hanford's plutonium is in the form of 12-foot-long nuclear fuel rods, while Savannah's storage plan assumed Hanford would package the material in DOE's standard storage containers, five inches by 10 inches.

Rep. Ed Whitfield, R-Ky., chairman of the oversight and investigations subcommittee, said consolidation could result in security improvements and significant cost savings. He said he was pleased that Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman this year created a committee to determine how and where nuclear materials should be consolidated.

According to Aloise, plutonium stabilization and packaging are completed at Rocky Flats, Hanford and Savannah, and Savannah has receved nearly 1,900 containers from Rocky Flats. Once the operation is completed, the DOE will have nearly 5,700 storage containers that could eventually be shipped to Savannah, he said.

Plutonium poses health and environmental hazards and a terrorist attack on a facility with plutonium could have devastating consequences. Plutonium could also be used by terrorists to create improvised nuclear devices or ``dirty bombs.''

--On the NET:

GAO: http://www.gao.gov/

Department of Energy: http://www.doe.gov/

---------------------------

MyWestTexas
October 07, 2005

Panelists stress development of alternative sources of energy must be explored

Stewart Doreen
Midland Reporter-Telegram

By Ruth Campbell
Staff Writer

The South China Sea is the one place left to explore for oil, but the U.S. would be better off developing nuclear and alternative fuels, experts said during the John Ben Shepperd Public Leadership Forum.

The 19th annual forum, titled "Whatcha Gonna Do When the Wells Run Dry? Energy, Economics and National Security," attracted about 600 people to the University of Texas of the Permian Basin gym Thursday.

Dr. Kenneth Deffeyes, author and retired professor from Princeton University, said the ease of producing oil depends on the fraction of oil not yet produced and the same for exploration.

Currently, production is not increasing and India and China have incredible demand for oil, Deffeyes said.

Despite the contention of author and Stanford University professor Amos Nur that the U.S. went into Iraq to secure the flow of oil, former CIA Director R. James Woolsey said at some stage this nation could have purchased Iraq.

"We didn't go into Iraq in order to seize anyone's oil," Woolsey said, adding it's unlikely anyone in the Defense Department had this idea.

The U.S. imports about 70 percent of its oil and this will increase to 80 percent in the next 15 years, Nur said.

Ambassador Thomas Graham Jr. said having nuclear power in the Third World is absolutely essential to the international economic system. "The future can't be based on fossil fuels alone," Graham said.

Several hundred nuclear power plants are being built worldwide and steps have recently been taken to build two new ones in the United States -- the first in many years. Increasing inventory of spent fuel needs to be stored safely -- either in the government's Yucca Mountain project or reprocessed into electricity, Graham said.

Technology is now available to develop thorium-based reactor fuel, which he said weighs 70 percent less and has 60 percent less volume than conventional nuclear reactor fuel. It also contains very little plutonium in waste form and cannot be used for weapons, Graham said.

"It can be used to eliminate weapons-grade plutonium and for electricity."

However, like any dramatic change it will come slowly. New reactors won't be on-line for another 20 to 30 years. Because nuclear power has such a stigma, the industry has tried to form close ties with environmental groups.

"The public has to be convinced nuclear power is safe, the waste problem can be solved and that we're not going to see an increase in nuclear weapons states," Graham said.

Woolsey said oil is only used to produce 3 percent of electricity, so using nuclear power won't put a dent in demand. He advocates conservation, hybrid cars, cheap ethanol and biodiesel.

Hoxie Smith, director of the Petroleum Professional Development Center, came to the roundtable because of the subject matter.

"I thought it was very thought-provoking," Smith said. He said he thought Woolsey raised a good point when he said most oil is used for transportation and substitute needs to be found.

Andrews County Judge Richard Dolgener and Director of Economic Development DeeDee Wallace were also in attendance.

"It's a great subject for the Permian Basin," Dolgener said, because it covered the realities of the oil field where people here live and work every day.

"I thought the caliber of the information was profound and certainly pertinent to this region," Wallace said. "What I found interesting were some of the comments regarding high-enriched uranium when there's so much oversight in the governing entities that he (Graham) addressed it so significantly."

Nick Taylor of Midland also thought the presentation was outstanding. He said he especially appreciated Woolsey saying the tradition among Shiite Muslims is separation of mosque and state.

"That gives us hope for democracy" in the region, Taylor said.

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Environment News Service
October 7, 2005

AmeriScan: Work Poor, But Yucca Mountain Contractor Paid Millions in Incentives

Work Poor, But Yucca Mountain Contractor Paid Millions in Incentives

WASHINGTON, DC, October 7, 2005 (ENS) - Nevada Senators Harry Reid, a Democrat, and John Ensign, a Republican said in a joint statement Thursday they were "angry, but not surprised" by a new report showing mismanagement on the Yucca Mountain Project.

The Audit Report on "Use of Performance Based Incentives by the Office of Civilian Waste Management" issued by the Department of Energy (DOE) Inspector General found that the DOE repeatedly gave bonuses to Bechtel Corporation in spite of poor work performance on the development of a permanent geological repository for the nation's high-level nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain, Nevada.

The audit shows that DOE´s Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management (OCRWM) paid Bechtel $4 million in “incentive-based fees’ since 2001 even though “Bechtel did not meet contract specifications.’

Bechtel's five year contract with the OCRWM is valued at approximately $3.2 billion. One of the objectives of the fee plus approach was to encourage fast track submission of a license application for the operation of Yucca Mountain to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

In a September 30 memo to Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman, Inspector General Gregory Friedman wrote, "We initiated this review to determine if OCRWM's performance based incentives program was effective in maximizing Bechtel's performance."

The audit found that OCRWM paid $4 million in incentives despite the fact that "additional time beyond the performance period was needed by the contractor to correct poor quality work; work scope was reduced due to poor contractor performance; delivered products were not acceptable to OCRWM; and OCRWM eliminated incentivized work because of concerns about the contractor's performance."

In addition, the audit found, Bechtel received a super stretch incentive fee for completing additional work when, in fact, it had not completed initial work package requirements.

The audit faulted the OCRWM for not establishing a quality assurance plan as required by the DOE.

The Inspector General said the Yucca Mountain problems are not the first in this area and the IG has identified the DOE's contract management as "a high risk area vulnerable to mismanagement."

“Unfortunately, this is not an isolated incident. It´s just one more in a long string of examples of incompetence and sloppiness at Yucca Mountain,’ said Reid, who is Minority Leader in the U.S. Senate, and a longtime opponent of the Yucca Mountain Project.

“We´ve seen the DOE cut corners on vital scientific experiments, compromise safety, punish whistleblowers, and spend far beyond their budget," said Reid. "This is not sound science and it´s not sound business, but it is more proof that the proposed Yucca Mountain nuclear dump needs to be stopped.’

“This demonstrates once again that the DOE is forging ahead with Yucca Mountain despite unanswered safety concerns and huge cost overruns,’ Ensign said. “The government should never be in the business of paying top dollar for shoddy work, and Americans should be outraged by this continued arrogance and waste of their money.’

The OCRWM management agreed with the findings of the audit and stated that "the report would be used to develop a comprehensive corrective action plan."

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Las Vegas SUN
October 06, 2005

Energy Department inspector general criticizes Yucca spending

By Erica Werner
Associated Press

"While the total cost of inappropriate incentive fee payments cannot be determined, we estimate that (the Energy Department's Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management) paid approximately $4 million even though Bechtel delivered poor quality work and missed deadlines," said the report.

"We stand by the work we've performed under our contract. We take the report seriously and we're going to review it carefully," said Jason Bohne, spokesman for Bechtel in Las Vegas.

In another example, Bechtel was offered a $2 million incentive for on-time completion of a "Licensing Support Network" that would post documents related to the development of Yucca Mountain on the Internet. The Energy Department determined Bechtel would not meet the March 2003 deadline, but instead of eliminating the incentive it used the money to create new and different incentives for Bechtel.

The total value of Bechtel's contract was $3.2 billion; it was eligible for $50 million in incentives and received $43.4 million of which the inspector general questioned $4 million.

Yucca Mountain is meant to hold 77,000 tons of nuclear waste for 10,000 years and beyond.

---------------------------

Las Vegas SUN
October 06, 2005

Caliente Mayor a Yucca advocate

Phillips sees dump as economic tool

By Suzanne Struglinski <suzanne@lasvegassun.com>
Sun Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON -- In a roomful of Yucca Mountain's top supporters gathered Wednesday on Capitol Hill, a Nevadan led the chorus.

"We hear all the bad stuff about 'yucky mountain' but that site has great attributes," Caliente Mayor Kevin Phillips said. "I disagree with the idea that we can scare this thing away."

Phillips spoke at a meeting billed as "Yucca Mountain Summit III," which included several pro-nuclear, pro-Yucca groups, including the Nuclear Energy Institute, the industry's lobbying arm.

The meeting was set to lay out a "blueprint for success" for the project that has been beset by problems. Phillips said the Energy Department needs to get its "ducks in a row" so Nevadans can see that once Yucca opens, it will be safe.

Phillips is a rarity among public officials in Nevada, where the bulk of elected leaders oppose the project.

The state is officially against Yucca Mountain and has spent millions of dollars to fight it. Polls have shown Nevadans consistently against the repository and the idea of 77,000 tons of high-level nuclear waste coming into the state.

But Phillips sees Yucca Mountain as an economic development tool for his town, population 1,014. Under the proposal, a rail line would take waste to Yucca Mountain and it would run through Caliente.

Phillips, though, made a point to come to the conference so federal officials and industry executives would not think that all Nevadans oppose the site such as "Mr. Loux and his crew," referring to Bob Loux, director of the Nevada Agency for Nuclear Projects, the state office fighting Yucca.

"Nevada's approach in today's world is counterproductive to Nevada," Phillips said.

Loux, reached by phone, dismissed Phillips and said he didn't have the scientific or technical knowledge to declare Yucca a good site.

"Kevin is only a small-town mayor in Nevada and does not represent Nevada," Loux said.

Phillips encouraged the group to press forward and solve Yucca Mountain's problems. He called the repository at Yucca "inevitable," saying the need for more nuclear power, and a place to put the waste, is not going to go away.

"It's bigger than all of us," Phillips said. "It's not a Caliente issue, or a Nevada issue or even a national issue, it's an international issue."

Just don't tell that to a Nevada crowd.

Sun reporter Cy Ryan contributed to this story.

---------------------------

Las Vegas Review-Journal
October 06, 2005

EPA Yucca Mountain radiation standard receives some backing

By Keith Rogers
Review-Journal

For the second time in three public hearings, the Environmental Protection Agency's staff of eight outnumbered the speakers Wednesday who testified on the agency's proposed radiation protection standard for the planned Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository.

Bill Vasconi, a longtime supporter of the project to dispose 77,000 tons of spent radioactive fuel in the mountain, 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas, capped off the seven who spoke before the EPA panel.

He said more people will be killed in vehicle accidents and by lightning than will die from "those things nuclear" including radiation allowed under the EPA's two-tiered standard.

The proposed standard will cover radioactive releases for 10,000 years under a more stringent guideline than the one for 1 million years.

In either case, Vasconi said afterward, "We can live with those."

His viewpoint was more in line with the two who testified at Monday's hearing in Amargosa Valley than the 14 speakers who criticized the EPA's proposal Tuesday night at the Cashman Center.

Representatives for Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., delivered statements at Tuesday's hearing.

At that hearing, Ian Zabarte, speaking for Western Shoshones, said the EPA's proposed protections do not take into account the lifestyles and diets of American Indians who thrive off the land and regard Yucca Mountain as sacred .

"Right now, a particular class of people are being disenfranchised," he said.

At a Tuesday discussion, Calvin Meyers of the Moapa Band of Paiutes said that his people have not been consulted in the EPA's process and that the Yucca Mountain Project is driven by the Department of Energy with ratepayers money to benefit the nuclear power industry.

"Money can't buy your way out of a coffin, and that's where you're putting my people," Meyers said.

Environmentalists Jane Feldman of the local Sierra Club and Peggy Maze Johnson of Citizen Alert said Tuesday night the plan is unacceptable because it allows one cancer case for every 36 people.

---------------------------

Las Vegas Review-Journal
October 06, 2005

Yucca backers seek comfort

Nevadans who support project press DOE for some sign of progress

By Steve Tetreault
Stephens Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON -- Intense politicking in Nevada, coupled with government stumbling in regard to Yucca Mountain, are affecting the nuclear waste project's supporters in the state, Caliente Mayor Kevin Phillips warned the Energy Department on Wednesday.

Phillips and a Nye County consultant attending a Yucca Mountain conference pressed a DOE speaker for signs of progress in the repository program that might buoy backers in Nevada.

Phillips said Nevadans' perceptions have been affected by last year's presidential campaign in which Yucca Mountain was an issue, along with licensing delays and the disclosure this spring of controversial e-mails that mention possible document falsification.

He said it is harder for supporters to argue that Yucca Mountain, 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas, is a certainty and would bring jobs and economic benefits.

"Those factors together (have) caused the 'inevitability concept' that many of us keep promoting to our friends to go down a little," Phillips said.

"Everybody has to understand this impacts the supportive Nevadan's ability to bring others into the fold with a constructive approach," Phillips said.

"Every time there is a slip, believability gets challenged," said Cash Jaszczak, a Las Vegas-based consultant to Nye County.

The Nevadans and industry advocates of the proposed nuclear waste repository sought clues from Eric Knox, associate director of the Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management. But Knox said he could not offer new timelines for the delayed project as DOE works through licensing and technical issues.

"It's quality over quickness," Knox said. "But if we get to the right quality, the quickness will follow."

Any progress on the proposed repository continues to be slow and uncertain, Yucca advocates were told at the conference.

About 30 executives representing nuclear utilities and waste transportation companies, and several rural Nevada repository proponents met to assess the project.

They were told:

jIt could be next summer or fall before the Energy Department sends the Nuclear Regulatory Commission a repository license application to move the program forward, according to William Reamer, NRC director of the high-level waste division.

Reamer said appeals at the NRC over whether the Energy Department should post draft applications to a licensing database might extend to the end of the year, effectively delaying the project.

DOE officials have said they would not file a final application until six months after the database is certified.

jCongress is unlikely to add Yucca Mountain provisions to energy bills being passed to help Hurricane Katrina recovery, said Clint Williamson, a professional staff member on the Senate Energy Committee.

"We all share the same concern. The program seems to be stalled," said Charles Pray, a nuclear waste adviser to the state of Maine and co-chairman of a Yucca Mountain advocacy group.

Some officials said there is an added aura of uncertainty over how Yucca Mountain might be affected by an Energy Department nuclear waste reprocessing initiative said to be in the works.

The Energy Daily newsletter reported in July that the office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management, which manages Yucca Mountain, was among DOE branches participating in the initiative.

DOE spokesman Craig Stevens said Wednesday that he could not confirm the participation. but he added, "Individuals throughout this department are working on ways to expand the use of nuclear energy throughout the country and the implications of that."

Paul Golan, Yucca Mountain acting director, also is conducting a comprehensive review of the project that could result in other changes.

---------------------------

Nuclear Engineering
October 06, 2005

Nevada wins court ruling over licence

US Department of Energy (DoE) attempts to keep the Yucca Mountain draft licence application private are set to be foiled after a ruling by the Atomic Safety Licensing Board.

The ruling stipulated that the department must reveal the draft document to state authorities before the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) receives the final version.

The ruling refers to a draft licence application by Bechtel, the project's main contractor, which the DoE intended to turn into a final application by the end of 2004.

In response to the requests by Nevada, the department argued that the draft was not a final document. However, Nevada insisted that once Bechtel had finished the draft and department management began reviewing it, it qualifies under commission rules as a document that should be made public.

Access to the draft will allow opponents of the project to preview the design for the below-ground repository and above-ground staging facilities. It will also show how the department plans to meet the Environmental Protection Agency's two-tiered, 1 million-year radiation safety standard.

The NRC is considering an appeal against the ruling.

---------------------------

Augusta Chronicle
October 06, 2005

Waste tank at SRS springs leak briefly

By J.C. Lexow
South Carolina Bureau

AIKEN - A leak was found Monday on a radioactive waste tank at Savannah River Site, officials announced Wednesday.

The "pin-prick-size" hole in Tank 12 leaked a small amount of liquid before salt contained in the mixture caused it to seal, said Westinghouse Savannah River Site spokesman Dean Campbell. The liquid dripped down the tank only a few inches before the plug developed and the leaked solution dried.

Water was added to the tank in January to soften the radioactive sludge and enable it to be easily pumped. The contents of Tank 12 are scheduled to be moved to the Defense Waste Processing Facility at SRS early next year.

"When you add material you add additional stress and sometimes, especially in these older tanks, it causes stress corrosion," Mr. Campbell said.

Tank 12 is encased in a concrete vault and the discovery was made by a monitoring camera. Mr. Campbell said any fluid would have been caught in a containment pan in the vault and would not pose a danger to the public, the environment or workers.

This was the fourth leak in the 750,000-gallon tank, in use since 1956. The leaks in 1974, 1984 and 2004 were also small and sealed themselves.

The salt nodules plugging the leaks are kept dry by a ventilation system within the vault. Camera inspections continue.

Removing the sludge is an early step in closing radioactive waste tanks at SRS. The extracted solution is bonded with glass and encased in metal canisters at the waste processing facility. The canisters are being buried temporarily at SRS, but are intended for permanent disposal at Yucca Mountain, Nev.

Reach J.C. Lexow at (803) 648-1395, ext. 106, or jc.lexow@augustachronicle.com

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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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