Thursday, March 31, 2005
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

NUCLEAR WASTE REPOSITORY: FBI looks at Yucca documents

Expanding investigation into possible document falsification could be 'tip of the iceberg'

WASHINGTON -- The FBI is investigating possible document falsification by workers on the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste dump project in Nevada, a congressional staffer said Wednesday.

Chad Bungard, deputy staff director and chief counsel for a House Government Reform subcommittee, said he learned of the investigation from the inspector general's office at the Department of Interior, which also is investigating.

"I think they're doing the right thing by pursuing the criminal matter in this case," he said.

FBI spokesman Bryan Sierra wouldn't comment.

Bungard's subcommittee is holding a hearing on the possible document falsification next week, and staffers are preparing to release e-mails from a U.S. Geological Survey hydrologist that suggest the falsification took place.

Rep. Jon Porter, R-Nev., chairman of the Government Reform subcommittee, said late Wednesday he had no direct information about FBI involvement.

But assuming Bungard was correct, Porter said, "I believe this is the tip of the iceberg" that could bring to light other problems on the repository program.

"We will find out more at our hearing," Porter said.

Representatives of the Energy Department and the U.S. Geological Survey, government inspectors, science analysts and Nevada state officials are scheduled to testify at that hearing.

Nevada officials including Attorney General Brian Sandoval and Sens. Harry Reid and John Ensign had urged the Justice Department and the FBI to become involved in the matter.

"When there is an allegation of falsified records, I'm assuming that is a criminal offense and I'm not surprised the Justice Department now is involved," said Bob Loux, executive director of the state Agency for Nuclear Projects.

"When people do this in the corporate world, they go to jail," Loux said.

The significance of the matter was signaled when Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman and Charles Groat, head of the U.S. Geological Survey, announced the allegations themselves on March 16, officials have said.

"The fact this went up to the energy secretary, and there was a big announcement, suggested there is a lot more to this," Loux said.

"The falsification of science documents upon which the foundation of the program is based is a very serious issue," said Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev. "It is nothing short of criminal if somebody or a group of people are falsifying documents that could seriously compromise people's health and their lives."

Now, with involvement by the FBI, "this must be so much bigger than they are even suggesting," Berkley said.

The e-mails were written from 1998 to 2000 and circulated among a team of scientists studying how water moves through the planned nuclear waste site, a key issue in determining whether radiation could escape and how much.

Officials at the Energy and Interior departments revealed the existence of the e-mails March 16 and handed them over Tuesday to the House Government Reform subcommittee on the federal workforce and agency organization.

The subcommittee plans to make redacted versions public on Friday.

"We don't want to compromise the criminal investigation," Bungard said, adding the agencies themselves were doing the redacting.

The Energy Department inspector general is also investigating the suspected document falsification, and DOE is conducting a scientific review as well.

The revelation about the potentially falsified documents was the latest setback to the planned nuclear waste repository 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas and is a victory for Nevada officials who are fighting the project.

Yucca Mountain, approved by Congress in 2002, is planned as the nation's only underground repository for 77,000 tons of defense waste and used reactor fuel from commercial power plants. The material is supposed to be buried for at least 10,000 years beneath the Nevada desert.

The project has suffered serious problems, however, including funding shortfalls and an appeals court decision last summer that is forcing a rewrite of radiation exposure limits for the site.

The Energy Department recently abandoned a planned 2010 completion date, and department officials have not announced a new date.

Stephens Washington Bureau Chief Steve Tetreault contributed to this report.