Nuke lawyers heading back to Vegas
WASHINGTON -- The nuclear waste lawyers will be back in Las Vegas on June 3 and 4.
That's when administrative law judges on the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board, a branch of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, have set oral arguments on whether the Yucca Mountain license application should be terminated.
Attorneys representing the Department of Energy, the NRC, the states of Nevada and California, the Nuclear Energy Institute and the various rural counties of Nevada and Inyo County in California will take part.
The states of South Carolina and Washington, plus Aiken County, S.C., the Prairie Island Indian Community in Minnesota and the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners also have asked permission to take part.
The NRC's hearing facility is at Pacific Enterprise Plaza, Building 1, 3250 Pepper Lane.
The licensing board previously had wanted to hold off until a federal court could rule on legal issues tied to the Yucca Mountain shutdown. However, the commissioners who head the NRC ordered them back to work.
A June 30 deadline has been set for the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board to make a decision.
The decision would be a key milestone in whether the nuclear waste repository plan becomes history or remains alive for the time being.
