April 5 2005

Before The U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Government Reform Subcommittee on the Federal Workforce and Agency Organization

Statement of Gregory H. Friedman, Inspector General U.S. Department of Energy

Testify regarding recent allegations of misconduct involving documents associated with the U.S. Department of Energy’s Yucca Mountain Project. Disposal of the Nation’s high-level nuclear waste and spent nuclear fuel is one of the most sensitive and complex challenges facing the U.S. Government. Under the Nuclear Waste Policy Act, as amended in 1987, the Yucca Mountain site in the State of Nevada is the only site in the United States to be evaluated for this purpose. The Act established a formal, step-by-step methodology for making this evaluation. For the State of Nevada and all other interested parties, the process to evaluate Yucca Mountain as the potential repository has enormous implications. Paramount among concerns expressed is that the consideration and evaluation be objective, and based on sound scientific analysis. Public confidence in the evaluation and licensing process must also be assured.