Friday, April 04, 2003
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

State submits petition to NRC

Nevada wants independent experts to judge Yucca plan

WASHINGTON -- Nevada officials called Thursday for independent experts to judge the Energy Department's license request for a nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain, saying they would ensure fairness and credibility.

The request for nongovernment scientists to weigh a repository application was among several changes the state urged in a formal petition to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Nevada also asked the NRC to direct its staff scientists to remain on the sidelines for key parts of the license hearings rather than participate in ways that might be viewed as helping the Energy Department.

Also, the Energy Department should be required to comply with the same conflict-of-interest rules for the hearings that are being applied to Yucca Mountain opponents, state officials said.

"Nevada wants to ensure that the proceeding is not rigged against the state, and is both fair and credible," Attorney General Brian Sandoval said in a statement.

State officials said the petition reflects Nevada's concern that the independent NRC has become cozy with the Energy Department instead of serving as a tough evaluator of the proposal to bury nuclear waste 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

"Lately these two agencies have looked more like joint developers" of the repository, Sandoval said.

NRC officials have disputed that characterization. Agency spokesman Dave McIntyre said the NRC would not comment on Nevada's petition, however, until it is reviewed by its attorneys.

After the Energy Department submits license documents, possibly in December 2004, the NRC is expected to take three years, and possibly four, to judge the DOE's efforts to prove Yucca Mountain safe for nuclear waste burial.

Officials say the hearings, expected to be held in Southern Nevada, will resemble a court trial in many ways, with depositions, expert testimony and cross-examination.