Less Than Meets The Eye in Yucca Layoff Story

Saturday's edition of the Las Vegas Review-Journal carried a story headlined, Layoff notices set for Yucca staff. I checked in with my colleague Steve Kraft, and he tells me this is much ado about nothing:

There will not be 500 layoffs in Las Vegas. The story in the LVRJ is about notices under federal law to workers potentially affected.

In the transition to Sandia as the lead laboratory for the Yucca Mountain project, Bechtel/SAIC is shedding scientific responsibilities. About 500 positions have been identified for shifting. The positions will remain in Las Vegas. Sandia will review all the folks and decide to whom they want to make job offers. At the end of the process, whether there is a net decrease, increase or no change in the number of jobs remains to be seen. This is very typical when there is contractor turn over in an on-going federal project.

Technorati tags: Nuclear Energy, Nuclear Power, Used Fuel, Energy, Technology, Electricity, Yucca Mountain, Nevada, Bechtel, SAIC