NRC nominees advance, could be on the job for big Yucca vote

Three science and engineering experts who have been nominated to the board of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission advanced in the U.S. Senate this week and could be on the job by the time the agency decides the fate of the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository.

The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee on Thursday gave its thumbs up to:

-- William Magwood, former director of the Office of Nuclear Energy at the Department of Energy.

-- George Apostolakis, nuclear science and engineering professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

-- William Ostendorff, former principal deputy administrator at the National Nuclear Security Administration.

The nominees would fill out the five-member NRC board, whose agency oversees the safety of nuclear reactors in the nation and the handling of nuclear materials and nuclear waste.

Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev. the majority leader, "will work to ensure that they clear the Senate. We hope that we can have these nominees in their new posts soon." said his spokesman Jon Summers.

The new regulators could take their seats in time to rule on whether the Department of Energy should be allowed to withdraw an application to build the controversial nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain in Nevada.

DOE attorneys have requested that NRC withdraw the application "with prejudice," meaning it could not be resubmitted at a later date, effectively killing the program.

The request to shelve the Yucca program for good is proving to be controversial, with the Nuclear Energy Institute and the states of Washington and South Carolina poised to fight it.

The matter will be debated before the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board, the administrative law arm of the NRC. But it is widely expected that whichever way the ASLB rules, its decision will be appealed to the five commissioners.

At their Senate confirmation hearing on Feb. 9, Magwood, Ostendorff and Apostolakis were asked by committee chairman Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., if they would "second guess" the Energy Department's request to withdraw the license application.

All said no. Boxer said she had asked on Reid's behalf and that he would be pleased with their answers.

But as one Political Eye reader has put it: "That's one way to read a one-word answer."