Tuesday, November 26, 2002
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Nevada senators seek probe of Yucca claims

By KEITH ROGERS
© 2002, LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL

Nevada's senators on Monday asked the investigative arm of Congress to probe claims by former and current Yucca Mountain Project workers who found shortcomings in the process that scientists used to find the ridge suitable for disposing the nation's highly radioactive waste.

"What implications do these quality assurance problems have for the integrity of the scientific models used to predict the future safety of the Yucca Mountain Project?" Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., asked in a letter late Monday to David Walker, head of the General Accounting Office, the nonpartisan congressional agency that audits federal programs.

In their letter, Reid and Ensign cited "two significant pieces of evidence that indicate to us the program is undergoing significant mismanagement."

In one instance, they referred to Sunday's Review-Journal story about project whistle-blowers who were either fired or transferred after they reported quality assurance problems to the Department of Energy's Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management.

In the other, Reid and Ensign cite an anonymous letter they received "indicating there is a significant loss" of scientific information.

"After receiving this letter, we learned that the Department of Energy had issued a notification of potential catastrophic loss of data stored in antiquated storage systems," Reid and Ensign wrote. "This information is crucial to the accurate modeling of the Yucca Mountain site."

Yucca Mountain, 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas, was approved by Congress in July over the veto of Gov. Kenny Guinn for disposing the nation's high-level radioactive waste.

The current schedule calls for the first shipment of the 77,000 tons of spent nuclear fuel and other deadly radioactive wastes to be entombed in 2010. But a GAO report earlier this year concluded that waste shipments couldn't realistically begin until at least 2020.

Problems perceived by quality assurance workers were detailed in a Department of Labor investigation into a wrongful termination complaint filed by former contract worker Jim Mattimoe, who until last year managed a staff that audited the project's science and engineering.

Mattimoe was fired after he made allegations of corruption in a program, including questions raised about the validity of computer data, software and models scientists used to predict how a Yucca Mountain repository would perform over 10,000 years.

The Labor Department's regional administrator determined Mattimoe should be reinstated, but his former employer, Navarro Research and Engineering has appealed that decision.

In the meantime, Mattimoe's associate, Robert W. Clark, was transferred from his job as manager of the DOE quality assurance program for the Yucca Mountain Project, now called the Office of Repository Development.

A June 24 memo by a Navarro employee, Kristi Hodges, that was written at the request of Labor Department investigator Nicholas Sebastian, who has since left the department, said Clark was told by a DOE official at the time of his transfer to "take one for the project."

The senators' letter to the GAO said, "This action represents a troubling glimpse of a mind-set within the project that appears to involve intimidation of hard working federal employees who raise questions about the ability to meet project deadlines."

In a telephone interview Monday, Ensign said, "This seems to be a case of employees trying to protect the public against possible dangers at Yucca Mountain and then having their voices silenced in the process. ... I think that we have to make sure to try and protect people who stick their necks out."

Likewise, Reid said in a statement, "These workers were removed because they were doing the right thing.

"Their job was to monitor the quality of the work being done at Yucca Mountain and once they came forward and identified defects with the science, they were either terminated or relocated. Apparently, these employees were used as an example (to) keep your mouth shut or you'll be removed," Reid said.

Ensign said he did not think a GAO probe will persuade Congress to send the Yucca Mountain Project back to the drawing board, but he did say it will help bolster the state's lawsuits aimed at defeating the project in federal court.

Clark, who spoke by telephone Monday, said though a GAO investigation would be a step in the right direction, he would like to see a more encompassing inquiry.

"A full-out congressional investigation I would welcome," Clark said.

In a statement, Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., said the workers' allegations of wrongdoing and corruption "are yet additional evidence that the DOE would do anything to approve Yucca Mountain."

"In my opinion, such irresponsible actions jeopardize the health and safety of Nevadans and cannot be tolerated. The Nevada delegation will work together to hold the DOE accountable to ensure that these latest allegations are fully investigated," Gibbons said.

Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., said in an interview, "This is just a continuation of a pattern of misbehavior and misconception on the part of DOE. There are no surprises here."

Berkley said she is trying to reach workers with concerns about the project. "It's important to find out exactly what it is they know. ... That's the problem when you have a predetermined conclusion to a study. We never had an honest scientific study on the Yucca Mountain Project's feasibility."

Asked whether findings reported by the project's quality assurance team are being processed to correct deficiencies with computer models, data and software, a DOE spokesman said last week if there are any identified problems, they will be addressed appropriately.