NRC Allows Yucca Shutdown to Proceed. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission said in an order that plans should proceed for the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste site in Nevada to close, citing budget considerations. The commission was deadlocked 2-2 on an appeal of the ruling of its Atomic Safety and Licensing Board that had prevented the closure from moving forward. Leaders of the House Energy and Commerce Committee disagreed, saying in a statement that the tied vote "means the Yucca Mountain license application remains alive," and the committee's fall priorities will include "its ongoing investigation into the Obama Administration's politically motivated efforts to terminate the Yucca Mountain nuclear repository." The NRC order can be found here (PDF file). The House Committee statement is available here. A New York Times blog provides a clear description of this procedurally muddled issue.
NRC Order:
CLI-11-07
MEMORANDUM AND ORDER
On June 30, 2010, the participants were invited to submit briefs as to whether the
Commission should review, and reverse or uphold, the Board’s decision denying the
Department of Energy’s motion to withdraw its construction authorization application with
prejudice.1 Upon consideration of all filings in this matter, the Commission finds itself evenly
divided on whether to take the affirmative action of overturning or upholding the Board’s
decision.
Consistent with budgetary limitations, the Board has taken action to preserve information
associated with this adjudication.2 In furtherance of this, we hereby exercise our inherent
supervisory authority to direct the Board to, by the close of the current fiscal year, complete all
necessary and appropriate case management activities, including disposal of all matters
currently pending before it and comprehensively documenting the full history of the adjudicatory
proceeding.
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