Nuke regulators bring Yucca Mountain waste plan closer to death

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) acted Friday to end review of the proposed Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository, handing a victory to the Obama administration in its ongoing effort to kill the project.

The NRC split 2-2 in failing to decide whether to uphold or reject a decision by its Atomic Safety and Licensing Board (ASLB), which last year rejected the Energy Department’s attempt to withdraw the license application for the Nevada project.

But the NRC, citing funding constraints, instructed the ASLB to close out its work on the project by the end of this fiscal year, which is the end of the month.

The Energy Department, while seeking to shut down the Yucca project, said it’s committed to finding a long-term solution to disposing of nuclear waste that’s piling up at the nation’s nuclear reactors.

“We remain committed to finding a sustainable approach for safe, secure long-term disposal of used nuclear fuel and nuclear waste,” a spokesman said in a statement Friday afternoon. “That is why [Energy] Secretary [Steven] Chu appointed a Blue Ribbon Commission of highly respected experts and leaders from both parties to recommend a path forward that will work for the American people and fulfill our obligations. We look forward to the BRC completing its work.”

Republicans have slammed Obama administration efforts to scuttle the long-planned — and long-delayed — Yucca Mountain nuclear waste site in Nevada. House GOP spending legislation continues funding for the project and prevents use of funds for shutting it down.

A pair of senior House Republicans said Friday that the NRC action is not a death knell for the Yucca project, which they support. Energy and Commerce Committee Republican leaders argued that the NRC decision places the Yucca license application in a state of “suspended animation,” pending funding decisions by Congress and the Obama administration.

“Today's action means the Yucca Mountain license application remains alive,” said House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-Mich.) and Rep. John Shimkus (R-Ill.), a top lieutenant.

“We expect the Senate and the President to put politics aside and cooperate with the full House so that license review may proceed, ensuring the billions of taxpayer dollars and nearly three decades of research is not wasted,” they said in a statement.

An official with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which supports the Yucca project, also said the fight is far from over, arguing the courts and lawmakers will have their say.

“I am . . . certain that the NRC’s decision to close out work on the license application will be challenged in court and in Congress,” wrote Christopher Guith, a vice president with the Chamber’s Institute for 21st Century Energy, in a blog post Friday.

“After America’s taxpayers and ratepayers have invested more than $20 billion in this project, it’s naïve and premature to conclude Yucca Mountain is dead,” he writes.

The NRC action drew a cheer, meanwhile, from Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), a longtime Yucca foe.

"Today's decision by the NRC brings the Yucca Mountain saga closer to its final conclusion," Reid said in a statement, according to The Las Vegas Review-Journal. "I am pleased that the commission is ready to wrap up all work on Yucca licensing by the end of this month."

But the NRC decision drew a quick rebuke from the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners, which represents state regulators.

“Given the billions of dollars taxpayers and consumers have paid for this project, the NRC at the very least owes the public a thorough explanation of today’s action,” the group’s president, Tony Clark, said in a statement.

“The split vote by the Commission leaves intact the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board’s order last year denying the Department of Energy’s request to withdraw the Yucca Mountain license application. However, the brief order issued today seems to include a plea of poverty and is inexplicable,” he said.

The NRC deadlock on whether to uphold or deny the ASLB’s decision last year was possible because the fifth NRC member, George Apostolakis, had recused himself due to prior work — before joining the NRC — on a panel tasked by the Energy Department’s Sandia National Laboratory on Yucca-related matters.