A divided Nuclear Regulatory Commission has allowed the Obama administration to continue plans to close the controversial Yucca Mountain nuclear waste dump in Nevada.

 

The commission split, 2-2, on whether to uphold or reject a decision by an independent nuclear licensing board, which voted last year to reject the Energy Department's attempt to withdraw its application for Yucca Mountain. The licensing board said the government failed to make a scientific case for why the application should be withdrawn.

 

Despite the split vote, the NRC said in an order Friday that the licensing board should continue steps to close down Yucca Mountain by the end of the month.

 

The decision is a victory for NRC Chairman Gregory Jaczko, who has worked to close the dump since becoming chairman in 2009.

 

 

 

 

NRC deadlock still allows Yucca Mountain closure
Steve Tetreault, Las Vegas Review-Journal
September 9, 2011

WASHINGTON -- Leaders of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission have deadlocked over Yucca Mountain but said Friday a lack of funding still will bring the agency's review of the controversial nuclear waste project to a close at the end of the month.

 

Commissioners who head the nuclear safety agency announced a 2-2 vote on whether the Obama administration legally could withdraw the government's once-preferred plan to bury highly radioactive nuclear fuel in Nevada.

 

The vote left the legal status of the 8,647-page construction application unclear plan unclear. But it still provided a path for further official action to be brought to a halt.

 

A two-page order directed the agency's licensing board to wrap up its work by Sept. 30, the end of the federal fiscal year, "consistent with budgetary limitations." The administration has requested Congress zero out the NRC's budget for Yucca Mountain.