Contractor questions documentation of Nevada nuclear dump plan

LAS VEGAS (AP) -- A review has raised questions about documents supporting the federal government's plan to build a nuclear waste repository in Nevada, an official with a project contractor said.

The Energy Department found the problem serious enough to start corrective action earlier this month, said John Mitchell, general manager of Bechtel SAIC, a contractor on the Yucca Mountain Project.

Mitchell said Tuesday that Bechtel managers reviewing years of material to prepare a repository license application discovered in January that data management problems recurred during the past four years, despite efforts to fix them.

"We're talking about the ability to objectively defend the history and pedigree of the data," Mitchell said.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission must be able to trace the agency's conclusions that Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, can safely store highly radioactive spent nuclear fuel.

Mitchell disclosed the problem at a Las Vegas meeting of Yucca Mountain Project quality control managers. He said Bechtel must "go back and re-establish the authenticity of the data."

Project spokeswoman Gayle Fisher said, "I'm told this is not significant, but anything dealing with quality is a serious issue."

Mitchell's comments represented the latest of recent problems with quality control at the Yucca Mountain project.

In March, the Energy Department issued a "stop work" order on one program segment after auditors found flaws in procedure-writing.

Mitchell said he stepped in to investigate the audit findings. They concluded Bechtel was failing to update procedures that direct scientists and technicians on what is necessary to document their tasks.

Auditors found that sign-offs on procedure changes were not documented properly. In one reported case, a Bechtel manager signed approval sheets for 97 procedures before their preparation was complete.

Mitchell said workers felt pressure to complete the task and sought shortcuts to simplify what appeared to be routine work.