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Yucca shutdown lacks master plan, auditors say
STEPHENS WASHINGTON BUREAU
WASHINGTON -- Department of Energy officials are moving so fast to terminate the Yucca Mountain program that they did not put together a master plan to guide the shutdown of such a major project, auditors said in a report Friday.
Department officials abandoned plans for a comprehensive blueprint under the rush to meet a Sept. 30 deadline to end the 28-year Nevada endeavor, according to a report issued by DOE Inspector General Gregory Friedman.
DOE officials instead organized focus groups to manage the shutdown. While that was significant, auditors said, it was no substitute for an overall plan.
The seven-page report also shed light on some details of the termination.
Some $2 million in equipment, desks, cubicles, printers and supplies have been removed from 900 offices in Las Vegas and at the Yucca site. Those items were transferred to the Hanford nuclear reservation in Washington, DOE officials said.
Other equipment was given to the Nevada Test Site, the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico and the Tonopah Test Range. Surplus emergency vehicles were transferred to Nye County.
While computers are being erased and redistributed to other DOE programs, some are being donated to schools in Clark, Lincoln and Nye counties, according to department officials.
Inspectors said a comprehensive shutdown plan "would have increased the likelihood of overall success of the effort" but were told the process was being quickened to meet a Sept. 30 deadline.
Instead, DOE officials briefed auditors on various focus groups that were managing the shutdown.
"Taken together these efforts were significant, although they did not in our judgment substitute for a master plan," according to Friedman. "Nonetheless, given the sequence of events and the timeline for shutdown completion, we have decided not to restart our audit."
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@steven.alexander-
There were states with low education rankings and high final ones. The factors were weighted, with the "Cost of business" criteria being a more deciding factor than education. Try to stay on the subject and quit trying to inject your party propaganda.
The reference to "several dozen scientists who have been offered jobs in Nevada with the Office of Nuclear Energy" mentioned in yesterday's article is mysteriously missing from this latest edited version. Hmmmm....
Maybe it was discovered that these so-called "scientists" were ordinary federal workers (not scientists) who were promised by the government to be kept on the payroll.
Actually, one of the biggest knocks against Nevada was that it was 47th of 50 states in educated population rank. And now, republicans "think" that we should strive to be 50th. Its so crazy Shar(r)on Angle is adopting the motto "Race for 50th" as an unofficial campaign motto.
As I prepare now to leave this beautiful state to stay employed I am reminded of a speech by then Governor Miller, I think it was in 1992 when the US test ban was being debated in Congress. In a bid to influence Congress' action on a test ban that woudl essentially knock the test site work force from tens of thousands to just a few thousand, I recall (and forgive me if I am inaccurate here) him saying something about the Nevada Test Site like: "we have decades of experience showing that nuclear testing is safe and want it to continue at the Nevada Test Site, we have shown that the nuclear rocket concept works and is safe, and want that program, this time for NASA, to come back to the Nevada Test Site. But we do not want the Yucca Mountain repository because it is dangerous and could kill tens of thousands of Nevadans. Why? Because of plutonium!" It was something very much like that. At the time I thought this was hilarious: what are we exploding in bomb tests? Plutonium!! What are we heating up those rocket motors with? Plutonium!! Yucca would have lots of plutonium, in a ceramic matrix surrounded by several metal barriers that were projected to last hundreds of thousands of years. Bombs and rockets? Well, the stuff is now losse in the subsurface of the test site. Most of the plutonium mess from failed rockets has been pretty well cleaned up, of course. But as a fresh face in Las Vegas about this time I remember thinking to myself that "we are doomed with ignorant leadership like this." It was just a thought, then, little did I know it would be prophetic.
@Tom.Reynolds-
Actually, one of the biggest knocks against Nevada, other than education, was the "cost of doing business". This includes taxes, fees, licensing, regulatory and legal cover costs, wage laws, and union activity. Nevada having a "business friendly" tax climate is a myth. It's better than California, but far less competitive with just about every other state west of the Mississippi.
@Tired of this-
And where do you think those new, well paid "outsiders" will be going for basic services, dining and entertainment, legal needs, medical needs, etc? You know, things that they'll pay money for? Are you really that short-sighted or just plain dim?
@ Michael.Smith: Nobody seems to have noticed that on July 13, the LV Sun reported that CNBC has rated Nevada 47th in a list of business friendly states. The article reported that CNBC's criteria included low taxes and clear regulations, of course. But they ALSO included education and ...wait for it... economic diversity as important aspects of a business friendly climate. Just like you said! I agree with you about the importance of economic diversity, and evidently so does CNBC.
Seriously, worried about the highly paid (and undoubtedly deserving) government scientists who are being reassigned to other cities? I got better things to worry about. Like, if gold is so valuable; and every gold dealer on Glenn Beck will say so) why is it that the gold dealers take dollars for their gold?
Oh, oh...somebody's losing their job. Ok, maybe McDonalds was a stretch...maybe more like a Denny's BUT MY POINT IS that these aren't local jobs, they're highly technical and people will be brought in to do most of them. No real impact on the local job market except for a few low paying support positions and we already have plenty of low paying jobs. Former, relax...sometimes a little diarhea is good for the soul.
@tired of this, you haven't a clue of what it takes to run a nuclear facility. Do your research before you post diarrhea of the keyboard.
@happy728, please describe in detail the "disaster" you envision at Yucca Mountain.
Once you do, I'd be happy to describe the disaster waiting to happen at the aboveground, outdoor facilities currently storing spent fuel near big cities.