Jan 19 - Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News - Andy Lenderman The Santa Fe New Mexican

Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque has been selected to coordinate science work for the Yucca Mountain Project in Nevada, a proposed long-term storage facility for spent nuclear fuel and high-level nuclear waste.

Part of the reason for the decision by the U.S. Department of Energy was Sandia's prior work as a scientific adviser to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in Carlsbad, where transuranic nuclear waste is stored.

Sandia will provide technical support on science and help with Yucca Mountain's application for a license from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, U.S. Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., said Wednesday.

Wednesday's announcement means that Sandia "will be a major contributor to research and work done on nuclear waste issues, which is the key to the future of nuclear power development in our country," Domenici said in a news release.

Sandia spokesman Michael Padilla said the work will involve about 60 employees, including subcontractors, at a cost of about $60 million. The work is currently overseen by Bechtel SAIC, a subcontractor for the Department of Energy.

Responsibility for the work will transfer from Bechtel to Sandia at an unspecified date.

"Handling of the nation's high level wastes is integral to the development of future nuclear power systems," Padilla said by e-mail.

Yucca Mountain has been studied by the Department of Energy as a long-term storage solution since 1978, according to the government.