New boss unlikely to mean major changes

The Senate voted 96-1 last month to create a semiautonomous Agency for Nuclear Stewardship. The agency would be within the Energy Department. Although the agency would ultimately answer to the energy secretary, it would operate on its own.

The Clinton administration initially balked at the notion of a new agency before giving it lukewarm approval.

But last week, a new plan for the agency emerged from a House-Senate conference. A spokeswoman for Energy Secretary Bill Richardson said he would recommend a presidential veto because the House-Senate agreement deprives the secretary of direct authority over employees of the new agency.

Despite the lack of finality, Sen. Richard Bryan, D-Nev., said the new agency "probably is going to happen."

"For the test site, it will mean very little," Bryan said. "It will change the organizational structure in that the Nevada Operations Office (which runs the test site) will report directly to the (Agency for Nuclear Stewardship) head. But in terms of mission, assignment and that sort of thing, there will be no structural change."

Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., sees the new agency as a plus for the test site.

"First, it's not going to hurt," Reid said. "I was involved in all the negotiations, and I know the test site is going to be taken care of and will do just fine."

Reid contends the new agency will mean less bureaucracy in operating the site, 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

"This will only improve the opportunities for the test site to do more for national security," Reid said.

Darwin Morgan, a spokesman at the Nevada Operations Office, said test site employees are going about their jobs while waiting for further word from Washington.

The idea for the new agency grew out of allegations of Chinese spying at the nation's nuclear laboratories.

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