NRC staff blasts bid to shutter Yucca project

WASHINGTON -- Four Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff members aired grievances to Congress on Friday over Yucca Mountain, saying they disagreed with the agency chairman's decisions to halt their work on the nuclear waste project.

They said that agency managers manipulated the timing of a license review for the Nevada nuclear waste site and that a staff memo on the project was diluted. Three of them signed formal dissents when the memo was completed early this year.

The staffers criticized NRC Chairman Gregory Jaczko, who has been the focus of internal and congressional investigations, and said other senior aides were "enablers" for Jaczko's decision to close the program without an airing before the full five-member commission.

Aby Mohseni, acting director of the high-level waste repository division, told the House subcommittee on environment and the economy that NRC staff adapted to deep budget cuts as pressure mounted in Congress to slow the program.

But, he said, "political pressures and manipulation of our scientific and licensing processes" reached a new level when Jaczko, a former science adviser to Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., became chairman in 2009.

The NRC's inspector general has concluded Jaczko did not break any laws in his handling of Yucca Mountain and that his actions fell within his considerable authority as chairman.

But the inspector said Jaczko selectively withheld information on Yucca Mountain from fellow commissioners to avoid a fight over his decision to shut down the program for what he said were budget reasons.

The House subcommittee, headed by Rep. John Shimkus, R-Ill., took the step of calling in five NRC staff to deliver testimony that was mostly critical of Jaczko.

Catherine Haney, the highest ranking as director of the Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards, said she believed Jaczko acted within his authority.

She said she was not directed by Jaczko or his aides to "suppress" technical material on Yucca, but they did weigh in on the timing of a safety evaluation report.

Other witnesses said Jaczko's actions damaged the NRC's reputation.

"I have always felt if you can be turned in one area, you can be turned in another," said Lawrence Kokajko, acting deputy director of the Office of Nuclear Material Safety.

Janet Kotra, a senior project manager, said she was distressed when Jaczko ordered staff to postpone issuance of two safety report volumes.

When she began preparing a memo for the full commission about the action, she said she was asked, "using a highly irregular process," to make changes from senior managers that diluted or contradicted the staff's views.

It became clear, she said, it was part of a plan to end the safety review.

King Stablein, a project management chief, said staff was "in agony" over the decision.

"Many of the staff have worked on the Yucca Mountain Program for two decades or longer," he said.

Friday marked the panel's fourth hearing this year on Yucca Mountain since the Republican-led subcommittee launched an investigation into the Obama administration's efforts to terminate the project.

"It is beginning to sound like we are airing the NRC's dirty laundry," said Rep. Gene Green, D-Texas.

Another Democrat, Rep. Henry Waxman of California, said the focus on Yucca Mountain was diverting attention from other nuclear safety issues.

A NRC spokesman issued a statement saying the NRC began shutting down the review after the Department of Energy moved to withdraw the project and as Congress eliminated funding.

Contact Stephens Washington Bureau Chief Steve Tetreault at stetreault@stephensmedia.com or 202-783-1760.