Wednesday, March 16, 2005
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal
Government workers may have falsified Yucca Mountain documents
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON - Government employees may have falsified documents
related to the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste project in Nevada, the
Energy Department revealed Wednesday in a development that could
jeopardize the project's ability to obtain a federal permit.
The department said that during preparation for a license application
to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission a number of e-mails were
discovered, dating back to 1998 and 2000, in which an employee of the
U.S. Geological Survey "indicated that he had fabricated
documentation of his work."
Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman said the department had begun an
investigation into what kind of information was falsified and whether
it would affect the scientific underpinnings of the project.
"If in the course of that review any work is found to be deficient,
it will be replaced or supplemented with analysis and documents that
meet appropriate quality assurance standards," said Bodman. He said
he was "greatly disturbed" that work involving the project may have
been falsified.
The department said the questionable data involved computer modeling
for water infiltration and climate at the Yucca site 90 miles
northwest of Las Vegas.
USGS Director Chip Groat said that the discovered e-mails "have
raised serious questions about the review process of scientific
studies done six years ago."
