Sessions focus on licensing for Yucca site

The last leg of the Energy Department's decades-long journey to obtain a license for constructing a nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain starts today, with judges from a regulatory agency slated to hear arguments about the license application.

The 9 a.m. pre-hearing will be the first of three scheduled through Thursday for three-judge boards from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's Atomic Safety and Licensing Panel.

The proceedings are being held though Department of Energy officials in the Obama administration who have said Yucca Mountain is not an option for disposing of the nation's high-level nuclear waste, a reversal of the Bush administration position.

The boards will assess the standings of 12 petitioners including Nevada, the Nuclear Energy Institute, counties and American Indian groups who filed 319 contentions about the license application.

Nuclear Regulatory Commission spokesman David McIntyre said after the proceedings conclude Thursday, the boards will issue rulings on each petitioner's standing and decide which contentions will be weighed for merit in technical hearings later this year.

The proceedings are open to the public at the regulatory commission's Las Vegas Hearing Facility in the Pacific Enterprise Plaza, Building 1, 3250 Pepper Lane. A public comment session is not scheduled, and seating is limited to 250. Those attending must go through a security checkpoint.

Webcasts will be provided each day:

• Tuesday:

www.visualwebcaster.com/event.asp?id=57076

• Wednesday:

www.visualwebcaster.com/event.asp?id=57079

• Thursday:

www.visualwebcaster.com/event.asp?id=57081

Contact reporter Keith Rogers at krogers@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0308.