WASHINGTON — The chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission says his agency is moving forward with plans to close the licensing review of Yucca Mountain in Nevada as a nuclear waste repository.
Chairman Gregory Jaczko (Yahts-KOH) told reporters Wednesday he expects the closedown of the licensing of the site will take one to two years.
Last year, the NRC’s Atomic Safety and Licensing Board ruled that the Energy Department didn’t have the authority to withdraw its application to build the site. The board said that it was up to the NRC to determine to issue a “merit-based” decision.
But Jaczko said that even though the issue is before his commission, there’s no time frame to make a decision. He said, “If we have an order, we will produce it.”