Nev. senators back Yucca whistleblowers

LAS VEGAS, Nov. 26 (UPI) -- Nevada's two senators have pounced on media reports of potential skullduggery in the development of the controversial Yucca Mountain nuclear waste depository by requesting a General Accounting Office probe of the alleged mistreatment of two whistleblowers.

Republican John Ensign and Democrat Harry Reid sent a letter Monday to the GAO citing reports in the Las Vegas-Review Journal that two quality-control officials were fired or transferred after raising questions about potential "technical deficiencies" in the massive scientific study of the $80 billion project.

"These workers were removed because they were doing the right thing," Reid accused in a statement. "Their job was to monitor the quality of the work being done at Yucca Mountain and once they came forward and identified defects with the science, they were either terminated or relocated. Apparently, these employees were used as an example -- keep your mouth shut or you'll be removed."

Nevada lawmakers from both parties have been locked in a stubborn battle against the Yucca Mountain project, which will make the Silver State the main storage site for tons of radioactive waste from power plants and other sources from around the country. The remote location is expected to begin accepting shipments in 2010 and literally hold the materials for centuries.

"The Yucca Mountain project represents one of the largest civilian federal projects ever developed. As a result, it should be held to the highest ethical, legal and technical standards," the senators averred in their letter to GAO Comptroller General David Walker.

The letter was based on an article published in the Review-Journal on Sunday that outlined the unseemly travails of two quality-assurance officials who questioned the validity of the computer models and data used to estimate how nuclear waste would behave while being entombed in Yucca Mountain for 10,000 years.

In opposing the project, Nevada officials said more study was needed on the potential safety risks posed by the tons of radioactive material scheduled to be stored indefinitely, however the Bush administration said the review of Yucca Mountain had been exhaustive and it was time to move the project forward and clear out waste that had piled up over the years at temporary storage centers around the nation.

The newspaper said one employee, Robert Clarke, was transferred from his job as a manager of the Department of Energy quality assurance office. Meanwhile, a colleague of Clarke's, Jim Mattamoe, was fired from his job as a quality auditor at Navarro Research and Engineering, a contractor on the project.

"We have project workers who are trying to warn the public about the possible dangers at Yucca Mountain," Ensign said. "Now it appears that someone at the Department of Energy may be trying to silence those voices. No one should be intimidated, belittled, or fired for doing their job."

There was no immediate comment from the Energy Department or the GAO, however the senators said the situation had the appearance of a management culture at Yucca Mountain that had no patience with employees who had legitimate safety concerns.

"What implications do these quality assurance problems have for the integrity of the scientific models used to predict the future safety of the Yucca Mountain project?" the senators' letter asked. "Does the apparent culture of neglecting quality assurance pose a risk to the health and safety of Nevadans?"

(Reported by Hil Anderson in Los Angeles)