Government: Nuke Waste Papers May Be False

By ERICA WERNER, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - The government disclosed that scientists on the Yucca Mountain project may have falsified documents, dealing the latest blow to plans to bury the nation's nuclear waste in Nevada.

Supporters of the nuclear waste dump insisted the development wouldn't derail it.

Yucca Mountain has suffered so many setbacks that a top Energy Department official couldn't tell lawmakers a projected completion date Wednesday. The disclosure about the documents could jeopardize the government's ability to get a federal license to open the dump or delay the license even more.

At the least, it hands Nevada one more weapon as it fights to kill the dump.

"This strikes at the very heart of the technical dispute between the state of Nevada and the Energy Department," said Joe Egan, Nevada's attorney in the dump fight. "That's what we're preparing to litigate."

A statement Wednesday from Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman said that during preparation for a license application to nuclear regulators, the department found e-mails from May 1998 through March 2000 in which an employee of the U.S. Geological Survey "indicated that he had fabricated documentation of his work."

The development "proves once again that DOE must cheat and lie in order to make Yucca Mountain look safe," Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said in a statement.

The documents involved computer modeling for water infiltration and climate at the Yucca site 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas. Nevada officials say water movement is critical in determining the possible spread of radiation from the proposed waste repository. [...more]

NO OLIGARCHIC REPUBLIC!!!