NRC Chairman Gregory Jaczko has issued an order for agency scientists to cease reviewing DOE's application for the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported today. NRC said the order followed a previously established commission policy "that directs a transition to begin an orderly closure of high level waste activities" at Yucca.
NRC spokesman David McIntyre said commissioners planned no comments on the instructions. The Nuclear Energy Institute contended that the NRC was obligated to review DOE's petition to withdraw its application for Yucca before commissioners voted on the petition. The group noted the "general principle, that as long as an application is pending, which it is, the agency is under an obligation."
Nevada politicians applauded Jaczko's order, with Meredith MacKenzie, spokeswoman for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid quoted as saying: "Why would anybody want the federal government to continue wasting time and valuable resources working on a license application for a project that has no money, no staff, and no chance of ever being built?"
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