Yucca Mountain Project experiencing brain drain

WASHINGTON -- The acting head of the Yucca Mountain Project is retiring at the end of the month along with another top official, the latest to depart the shrinking nuclear waste program, the Department of Energy confirmed.

Christopher Kouts, 59, worked in a variety of management and technical jobs during 24 years on the project. He was the No. 2 manager and became acting director of the Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management in January after the departure of Director Ward Sproat.

Russ Dyer, 62, the project's chief scientist, also has announced retirement effective the end of the year, the department said.

Further, Allen Benson, the project's director of communications and outreach, said he will be retiring "within the next couple of months."

They are in the latest wave of departures as the Department of Energy ratchets down its effort to build a nuclear waste repository at the once-booming desert site 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

The Obama administration has declared that placing used nuclear fuel within the mountain is no longer its preferred strategy for managing the waste.

Energy Secretary Steven Chu said earlier this year a blue-ribbon commission will be formed to identify alternatives, although nothing further has been announced.

In the meantime, the Yucca Mountain work force that was centered in Las Vegas has dropped from 2,750 people over three years through several rounds of budget cuts engineered by Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., the program's leading critic in Congress and also the Senate's majority leader.

The most recent job cuts earlier this year put the project at about 800 workers, but departures through the summer and fall have trimmed the population to about 625, Benson said.

Most of those who remain have been assigned to respond to technical questions from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which is evaluating a Yucca Mountain license application that DOE filed in June 2008.

There have been indications that effort will be dropped as well at some point.

An internal DOE budget document that was disclosed last month suggested the Obama administration budget for fiscal 2011 will contain no more than $46.2 million earmarked for worker transition, site remediation and archiving data produced during more than two decades of research.

Sources who follow the program closely say it is likely that amount will be cut even further by the time the administration's budget for 2011 is announced in February.

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

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Comments

Note: Comments made by reporters and editors of the Las Vegas Review-Journal are presented with a yellow background.

1. Yucca.Refugee Dec. 31, 2009 | 1:56 p.m. Report Abuse

   I, too, always enjoy Mama Bear's comments, but ruefully and with a sense of vertigo.
   
   The debate over Yucca Mountain, as conducted in blogs like this, is yet another example of how opinion has come to equal fact in public discourse, and how "strong opinions" without any foundation in evidence have come to equal deliberation.
   
   I've heard Mama Bear's claims on these blogs, in the past, to have been an "insider," an employee of the Yucca Mountain Project, as if that were an unassailable badge of credibility.
   
   Big deal. Many of us can make such claims, and they remain no substitute for legitimate argument.
   
   The suggestion, for example, that there are no "solid scientists" on the Yucca Mountain Project is absurd on its face. I could list, off the top of my head, many exemplary scientists who have contributed to the Project. These are "solid scientists" by any reasonable definition, whether you're discussing one's CV or list of peer-reviewed publications.
   
   The expert panel assembled for the volcanism hazard assessment, for example, comprises some of our nation's most illustrious volcanologists -- so much so that the State of Nevada is actually basing some of its contentions on critical statements made by one of these experts (who wrote that the repository would be better sited 20 km away from its present proposed location).
   
   In short, no matter the outcome, there are two "parallel universes" in these proceedings. On the one hand, there is the universe based in reason, logic, and exhaustive examination of the evidence at hand.
   
   On the other hand, there is the universe of "strong opinions" and unsupported pronouncements -- "gut feelings" and vaguely sketched personal beliefs masquerading as ethical principles.
   
   Inhabit whichever universe you prefer, but don't pretend to be a resident of one when clearly you reside in the other.

2. Yucca.Refugee Dec. 23, 2009 | 11:22 a.m. Report Abuse

   And one other thing regarding recent suggestions (such as in the DOE 2011 budget proposal) that DOE will withdraw the license application and shut down the project:
   
   The Nuclear Waste Policy Act, which mandates construction of a national repository at Yucca Mountain and establishes contracts with nuclear utilities to that end, contains language regarding non-performance of duties laid out in the Act.
   
   I'm thinking specifically of section 119, which describes judicial review. Apart from establishing jurisdiction in the court of appeals, this section enumerates potential causes for judicial intervention, including "failure of the [DOE] Secretary, the President, or the Commission [NRC] to make any decision, or take any action, required under this subtitle."
   
   Now, if subtitle A essentially directs DOE to submit and defend a license application, and directs NRC to review that application, then withdrawal of the application by DOE would appear to constitute an actionable violation of the law.
   
   Now, of course, someone would have to file a suit alleging non-performance of duties enumerated in the Act, but there are plenty of candidates. The nuclear industry, for example, as represented by the Nuclear Energy Institute, the industry lobby, which is already a party to the Yucca Mountain licensing proceedings. Or, another potential candidate, any of the states who have contracted with the DOE for removal of waste (ID, WA, and SC, for example). Attorneys General from some of these states have already expressed strong opposition to scuttling Yucca Mountain.
   
   All of this may have something to do with the recent reports that DOE was going to withdraw the application a couple of weeks ago. Allegedly, DOE's lawyers, who know the Act inside and out, convinced Secretary Chu to reconsider.... Legal reality reared its ugly head, in other words.

3. Yucca.Refugee Dec. 23, 2009 | 11:02 a.m. Report Abuse

   The entire anti-Yucca community, and the media especially, has been profoundly irresponsible in publicizing this alleged attempt by DOE to withdraw the Yucca Mountain Project license application at the behest of the current administration (and presumably Sen. Reid).
   
   We seldom hear the consequences of such an act amidst the smug celebrations and endless burnishing of campaign rhetoric. No one seems to talk about the massive expense to taxpayers; some estimates suggest that the Justice Department could end up paying upwards of $50 billion to settle breach of contract lawsuits brought by nuclear utilities against the DOE for failure to take possession of commercial spent nuclear fuel under the Nuclear Waste Policy Act.
   
   The cases thus far, which are partial breach cases, have resulted in hundreds of millions in payments to the utilities. The Justice Department has already expended something like $96 million just in legal expenses. All of this money comes out of the Justice Fund, which is funded by taxpayers, and the projected $50 billion in total damages resulting from abandonment of the YMP would presumably come from there as well.
   
   In addition, the $22 billion that nuclear utilities have paid into the Nuclear Waste Fund for construction of a national repository at Yucca Mountain will have to be returned, and perhaps also the $10 billion or more that has already been spent on the project. So we could be looking at upwards of $80 billion dollars of taxpayer/ratepayer money, for naught.
   
   Nevadans have never appreciated that the Yucca Mountain Project is mandated by law (the NWPA), and that contravening that law will come with a price. Harry Reid may be able to rouse some cheers during his campaign, but we will be paying for his opposition for years to come.

4. Steve Dec. 23, 2009 | 9:05 a.m. Report Abuse

   I always look forward to your comments, Abe.
   
   As far as why all the NIMBYism? It's because Harry Reid decided to oppose Yucca Mountain before one scientific study was even conducted. It was a windfall campaign plank which he has played to the hilt.
   
   So instead of waiting for the technical studies, Reid decided that his own political aspirations were more important than science... and also more important than the economic stability of the state of Nevada.
   
   The gambling industry had long been considered immune to the effects of recession. Reality has proven otherwise. Harry Reid had a chance to lock in economic incentives (e.g. Alaska's pipeline payments) but decided his own political future was more important.
   
   By now, he has poisoned the minds of the majority of Nevadans, so I don't hold much hope for a reverse of the NIMBY attitude. A thousand scientific studies proving Yucca Mountain would not prove a threat could not change anybody's mind at this point. This is herd mentality at its finest.

5. abevanluik Dec. 22, 2009 | 8:46 p.m. Report Abuse

   What is seldom asked is why all this NIMBYistic opposition? The National Academy of Sciences said that transportation of this material was not nearly as dangerous as some chemical cargos routinely shipped.
   
   The Department of Energy made a good case for safety in its license application. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission, on behalf of the nation, is in the process of seeing whether or not they believe this can be safely done. But they have been cut off at the knees to prevent their coming to a conclusion.
   
   This state is being protected from anything that can hurt its image, to keep it safe for a gaming industry that is expanding all over the world guaranteeing that Nevada will never recover her glory days.
   
   The nearly 2,000 laid off so far were mostly Nevadans. But what is even more grievous is that there could now be thousands of craft and general construction workers building railroads, making roads and setting up power and communications lines.
   
   These jobs would have lasted decades. Sumerlin office buildings would be full instead of empty. More taxes would be collected from homes and businesses and sales. School-teachers might not have been laid off in the rural counties, and rural counties like Nye would have been assured a long-term inflow of federal money to improve and maintain road, school, emergency response and other county infrastructure.
   
   Rural counties were sacrificed, as were urban workers and businesses, to keep the casinos unsullied by nuclear waste shipments coming too close. But the casino industry has shown itself to be at the mercy of the larger global economy. Being dependent on people having extra cash, this industry will be the very last to recover.
   
   Las Vegas needs badly to diversify its economy. Yucca Mountain would have helped.

6. Dinodb Dec. 22, 2009 | 4:49 p.m. Report Abuse

   How Ironic that Obama and Reid are trying to kill a project that the people of Nye County want and haven't an issue with it. We even have an office with Pro Yucca mountain information located in Pahrump.... http://www.nyecounty.com/index.htm

7. davelv Dec. 22, 2009 | 11:41 a.m. Report Abuse

   In the past week, DOE admitted in the Federal Register that they could not ship high level waste to the WIPP facility because New Mexico stated WIPP is only for transuranic wastes. This was the Yucca Mountain opposition's prime candidate for disposal.
   
   Looks like the states and waste holders are going to play hardball with Obama/Reid's plans to store high level waste anyplace but Yucca Mountain.
   
   As to brain drain, it is highly unlikely that a project that has employed at various times over 10000 scientists and engineers would be dependent upon just a few individuals for success. The country certainly should thank these individuals for their contributions to furthering Congress' direction to make Yucca Mountain work, but the project will continue regardless of retirements until the NWPA is changed.