Yucca deadline now June 30

WASHINGTON ­-- Administrative judges weighing a Yucca Mountain shutdown gave themselves another month to make a decision on Tuesday.

The Atomic Safety and Licensing Board said it would rule by June 30 on whether to allow the Department of Energy to withdraw an application pending at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to build a nuclear waste repository at the Nevada site.

The safety and licensing board is an arm of the NRC.

Last week, commission leaders ordered the judges to settle the Yucca license matter by June 1.

However, in a filing Tuesday, the licensing judges said the June 1 deadline was "infeasible" because of the complexity of the issue, its desire to hold a legal hearing, and a side issue that deals with the preservation of project documents.

The licensing board set forth a schedule to resolve the case that will probably include a legal hearing in Las Vegas sometime in June.