Ruling in Yucca Mountain case pushed into new year
WASHINGTON - A federal court decision whether to resume license hearings for a Nevada nuclear waste site has been pushed into next year.
An appeals court panel agreed to give the Nuclear Regulatory Commission more time to submit paperwork in the case, setting a new deadline of Jan. 4.
Final court papers had been due no later than Friday. But NRC attorneys noted in a motion last week that Congress remains in lame-duck session, with still a chance to address the issue in any deal involving the fiscal cliff.
Judges in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit are weighing a lawsuit that charges the NRC in 2010 illegally halted its consideration of a license for the proposed Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository.
The lawsuit, which includes Nye County among its plaintiffs, is seeking a court order for the agency to complete its studies of the site.
The NRC has argued it halted work on the project after the Obama administration announced it was terminating the project and began zeroing out funding for it.
