Harry Reid: Nothing "Independent" About Yucca Nuclear Dump Quality Assurance and Engineering Assessments

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December 13, 2007 -- Washington D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Harry Reid of Nevada made the following statement after learning of the release of the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Quality Assurance and Engineering Assessments for the proposed nuclear waste dump:

“The ‘independent’ assessments released by the Department of Energy today are yet another example of how the DOE is rigging the process and doing everything it can to make Nevada the nation’s nuclear waste dump. There is nothing ‘independent’ about their assessments. The DOE commissioned a company, Longenecker and Associates, to perform the engineering assessment, but members of that company’s managing board are Energy Department insiders. For ten years, one of them was the Department’s chief operating officer for the Yucca Mountain project. Another managed the Yucca Mountain project for Bechtel. It is ridiculous to think that these individuals could objectively assess anything related to Yucca, having acted for years as senior officials in charge of trying to dump nuclear waste in Nevada. I will continue doing everything I can to prevent the DOE from moving forward.”

The DOE hired Longenecker and Associates in February to conduct an "independent" review of the engineering at Yucca Mountain. Ronald Milner, who served as the chief operating officer for the DOE's Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management from 1996 to 2006, is a member of the senior management team of Longenecker and Associates.

Source: Senator Harry Reid