WASHINGTON -- Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., opened a new line of criticism against the Yucca Mountain program on Monday, noting the nuclear waste project has been managed by the same company with a role in the disastrous "Big Dig" tunnels in Boston.
Bechtel Corp., the largest engineering company in the United States, is a partner with Science Applications International Corp., in operating the Yucca program for the Department of Energy in Nevada.
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Along with partner Parsons Brinckerhoff, Bechtel also has served as private sector manager on the $14.6 billion Boston highway project, which has suffered big cost overruns as well as leaks in tunnels below Boston Harbor.
On July 10, a three-ton concrete panel crashed from a tunnel ceiling and killed a 39-year old motorist.
Reid, a longtime critic of the Yucca project, said Bechtel's involvement in Massachusetts gave him further pause about the Nevada site, where the firm is designing tunnels for the underground storage of radioactive spent nuclear fuel, as well as aboveground waste- handling plants.
"I personally feel some reservations about their performance based on what we have learned about the Big Dig," Reid said of Bechtel. "It's the same kind of thing, a big hole, the same kind of deal."
"We are going to push back on this," Reid said. He did not say what further action he might pursue. Aides said it was unlikely he would call for Bechtel SAIC to be removed from the Yucca project.
Within Bechtel, the Nevada and Massachusetts projects -- along with hundreds of others that the firm manages -- share certain corporate resources, including access to engineering and construction experts and human resources personnel, company spokesman Jason Bohne said.
Bohne, who is based in Las Vegas, said he was not aware of any managers or key personnel who have worked on both Yucca Mountain and the Big Dig projects.
"Each project is very unique," Bohne said. "There is not another Big Dig out there. There is not another Yucca Mountain out there."
Bohne said Bechtel is supporting investigations into the Boston death.
Energy Department spokesman Allen Benson said the Yucca repository is being designed to "the most stringent of quality assurance standards as approved by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission."
