YUCCA WRIT OF MANDAMUS APPEAL PERIOD ENDS WITHOUT CONTEST

The time period to file an appeal to the Supreme Court in the Yucca Mountain writ of mandamus decision expired last night at midnight with no appeals being filed by any opponents to the decision that compelled the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to finish the Yucca licensing review. The end of the 90-day appeal time frame comes after Nevada, the last opponent to the decision, requested a re-hearing en banc last year that was subsequently denied unanimously by the Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. Marta Adams, an assistant attorney general for Nevada, had previously said that the state would not seek a further appeal in the decision, and with the NRC moving forward with the completion of the Yucca Safety Evaluation Reports, there did not appear to be anyone else willing to challenge the decision further.