Reid’s nuclear waste meeting with energy official delayed

WASHINGTON -- A meeting at which Sen. Harry Reid and Energy Secretary Steven Chu were expected to reconcile competing plans for a nuclear waste commission has been rescheduled for Friday, according to the Senate majority leader's office.

The meeting had been set for Monday, but Chu is at Brookhaven National Laboratory in New York for an announcement about economic stimulus funding for Energy Department laboratories.

The nuclear waste meeting was changed to accommodate Chu's travel schedule, according to Reid's office.

The officials are expected to discuss plans to form a study commission because of the Obama administration's desire to examine alternatives to storing the radioactive material at Yucca Mountain, about 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

Chu has been moving to form such a commission, while Reid, D-Nev., and Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., have introduced a bill for congressional leaders to make appointments to the group.