March 17, 2014

YUCCA LICENSING CASE PETITIONERS URGE COURT TO MOVE FORWARD

By ExchangeMonitor

Petitioners in a case seeking to restart Nuclear Regulatory Commission licensing proceedings for Yucca Mountain are urging the Court to make a decision in light of the recent enactment of the Continuing Resolution to fund the federal government for the first few months of FY 2013. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit this summer put the case on hold until December to give Congress an opportunity to either appropriate additional money for NRC licensing or make it clear that the NRC and Department of Energy can not use any available carryover funding for Yucca licensing.

On Friday, President Obama signed the CR, which did not specifically prohibit the use of funds for Yucca, and the mandamus petitioners subsequently filed a status report on the case. “On the contrary, the continuing resolution specifically allows for activities to be started or resumed if authorized by law and funding is available,” the petitioners write, adding, “The basis upon which the Court delayed issuing mandamus—waiting to see whether Congress’s Fiscal Year 2013 appropriations decisions would affect the case—is now resolved. The parties remain in the same position they were in at oral argument. Mandamus should thus issue.”

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