Wednesday, December 01, 2004
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

State finds change in repository's quality control

WASHINGTON -- Attorneys for the state of Nevada say they have found another weapon to deploy against the proposed Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository.

State officials are focusing on an Energy Department decision this summer to delete structural supports for the repository's underground tunnels from a list of features requiring the strictest quality assurance controls.

The supports consist of rock bolts and steel beams that hold up repository walls and ceilings and add a layer of protection for canisters of highly radioactive spent fuel that would be stored within the tunnels.

DOE officials removed the tunnel supports from a "Q list" of Yucca systems that are considered important to prevent radiation from escaping the mountain and entering the environment.

Because they deal with deadly radiation, systems on the "Q list" also require the most stringent quality assurance rules, including pain-staking documentation and detailed reviews.

Bob Loux, executive director of the Nevada Agency for Nuclear Projects, said DOE "is obviously trying to minimize the number of areas that (quality assurance) has a role to play. I don't think they can fully comply with QA requirements, so they are trying to eliminate them."

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the Government Accountability Office have criticized the rigor of the Yucca Mountain quality assurance in reports this year, prompting DOE and contractor managers to increase their attention to that program.

Allen Benson, an Energy Department spokesman, said in an e-mail the tunnel supports are not on the Q list "because other engineered systems provide for radiological protection."

DOE plans to install titanium drip shields over waste canisters within the tunnels and to store the radioactive material in special alloy containers scientists believe will be corrosion-resistant.

Joe Egan, a Virginia attorney who leads a legal team challenging the Yucca Mountain Project for Nevada, charged DOE "is cutting corners one more time."

Egan said Nevada will file a formal contention on the tunnel supports during repository license hearings. "They are making an incorrect determination that the tunnel supports are not important to safety, and we don't believe that is the case," he said.