By Steve Tetreault, Las Vegas Review-Journal /McClatchy-Tribune Regional News/ 273 words/ 23 April 2010/ Las Vegas Review-Journal (MCT)/ KRTLVEnglish/ Distributed by McClatchy - Tribune Information Services
Apr. 23--WASHINGTON -- The leaders of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission Friday set a June 1 deadline for decisions whether to allow for the termination of the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste site, a move that could speed the shutdown of the controversial project.
A panel of administrative judges within the NRC had wanted to delay ruling on whether the Department of Energy could withdraw the controversial Nevada project until a federal court could weigh legal challenges against DOE's efforts to shut it down.But in a 4-0 vote, the commissioners who head the nuclear safety agency ordered the judges to get back to work and issue a decision by June 1.The commissioners said the NRC shouldn't be sitting on the sidelines while courts take up an issue that is clearly within the agency's purview, and that federal judges might benefit from whatever decision the NRC reaches."We think a prudent course of action is to resolve the matters pending before our agency as expeditiously and responsibly as possible," the commissioners said in a five-page order.
NRC officials said the board's order could put the agency on an assured course to decide the fate of the nuclear waste project the Obama administration wants to bring to an end.
CRESP Newstories and Links related to risk-based cleanup of the nation’s nuclear weapons production facility waste sites and cost-effective, risk-based management of potential future nuclear sites and wastes. CRESP seeks to improve the scientific and technical basis for environmental management decisions by the Department of Energy (DOE) and by fostering public participation in that search.
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