Yucca Mountain documents may have been falsified, government says By H. JOSEF HEBERT AP March 16, 2005

WASHINGTON (AP) - Government employees may have falsified documents related to the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste project in Nevada, the Energy Department revealed Wednesday in a development that could jeopardize the project's ability to obtain a federal permit.

The department said that during preparation for a license application to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission a number of e-mails were discovered, dating back to 1998 and 2000, in which an employee of the U.S. Geological Survey "indicated that he had fabricated documentation of his work."

Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman said the department had begun an investigation into what kind of information was falsified and whether it would affect the scientific underpinnings of the project.

"If in the course of that review any work is found to be deficient, it will be replaced or supplemented with analysis and documents that meet appropriate quality assurance standards," said Bodman. He said he was "greatly disturbed" that work involving the project may have been falsified.

The department said the questionable data involved computer modeling for water infiltration and climate at the Yucca site 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas. USGS Director Chip Groat said that the discovered e-mails "have raised serious questions about the review process of scientific studies done six years ago."

The disclosure follows a string of other setbacks for the proposed waste dump. The Energy Department has delayed filing its license application to the NRC and now acknowledges that the planned completion of the facility by 2010 no longer is possible.

Congress last year refused to provide all the money sought by the Bush administration for the project, and a federal appeals court rejected the radiation protection standards established by the Environmental Protection Agency. EPA is now developing new standards. Last month, the official in charge of the Yucca project resigned, citing personal reasons.

Bodman said the questionable documents were part of the papers required by the NRC verifying the accuracy of earlier work in the project. He said Nevada officials had been advised. The Energy Department's inspector general also has been asked to investigate.

"The fact remains that this country needs a permanent geological nuclear waste repository, and the administration will continue to aggressively pursue that goal," Bodman said. He said that "all related decisions have been, and will continue to be, based on sound science."