Thursday, April 22, 2004
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

YUCCA MOUNTAIN: Technical documents facing close scrutiny

Review could delay licensing for nuclear waste repository

CORRECTION -- 4/23/04
A headline about the proposed Yucca Mountain repository in Thursday's Review-Journal incorrectly stated that a review of technical documents could delay licensing. Auditors turned up shortcomings in the documents, which workers at the Office of Repository Development will review. But the Energy Department still plans to submit the license application for the nuclear waste repository in December.

The article also misspelled the name of Yucca Mountain Project official Timothy Gunter.

WASHINGTON -- The Energy Department has launched a broad review of technical documents for the Yucca Mountain Project after auditors turned up shortcomings that could delay licensing for the nuclear waste repository.

About 100 workers at the Office of Repository Development in Las Vegas are being assigned to check thousands of pages in analysis model reports and other papers that will underpin the department's repository license application to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, officials said Wednesday.

The effort is expected to take two or three months, delaying some of the Energy Department's groundwork for filing a license application later this year, said Timothy C. Gunther, a project manager.

The Energy Department still plans to submit information to the NRC by the end of August on 125 outstanding technical questions about how effectively the repository will contain the nation's high-level nuclear waste.

But Gunther told a NRC advisory board that about half of the items will be submitted later rather than sooner.

On several key repository performance questions, Energy Department officials will ask NRC staff to accept partial reports in August with a promise that complete paperwork will be forthcoming later in the year, Gunther said.

Energy Department officials say they plan to file a license application in December.

The new review was instigated by a NRC review team that evaluated a sampling of Energy Department technical documents during visits to Las Vegas in November, December and January.

Auditors said in a report made public last week that they discovered some of the documents were unclear or lacking adequate background necessary for NRC to judge the repository effort.

Shortcomings could cause licensing delays, they warned.

An Energy Department internal review found similar problems, Gunther said after his presentation to the NRC's Advisory Committee on Nuclear Waste.

"A light bulb went off that we weren't meeting NRC's expectations" for document preparation, Gunther said.

NRC officials said they will continue to work with the Energy Department as information is made available.

"The schedule is the schedule, and we're working within those constraints," NRC evaluator Tim McCartin told the advisory board.

But the new schedule drew criticism from Bob Loux, director of Nevada's Agency for Nuclear Projects.

Loux said Energy Department problems with license preparation have been well-documented.

"It's the same thing over again," he said. "They just have not done a very good technical job documenting things."

Loux said he believes the Energy Department is stalling on completing its technical preparations to avoid exposing its work to review by Nevada experts.

"I think they believe that if it's out there too soon, people will have a chance to take it apart," he said.