PDF Icon
Download

For Immediate Release: August 3, 2012
Contact: Rob Thormeyer, 202-898-9382, rthormeyer@naruc.org

Court Decision on Yucca Proceedings 'Delays…the Inevitable,' NARUC Says

WASHINGTON—The National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners issued the following statement after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit issued an order holding in abeyance a case on whether the Nuclear Regulatory Commission should be directed to resume its work on the Yucca Mountain license application:

“At first blush, today’s decision seems to delay for a few months the inevitable that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission will be required to continue its review of the Yucca Mountain license application. This is a small victory for consumers of nuclear utilities who have paid more than $30 billion over the past 30 years into this stalled program. Today’s decision puts the burden on Congress to follow up on the law it passed in 1982 and ensure the NRC has the funding it needs so its review can continue. While we would have preferred that the court act now instead of waiting on Congress, it seems clear that the majority of the judges favor our request that the agency be ordered back to work.”
--NARUC President David Wright of South Carolina
 

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
NARUC is a non-profit organization founded in 1889 whose members include the governmental agencies that are engaged in the regulation of utilities and carriers in the fifty States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. NARUC's member agencies regulate telecommunications, energy, and water utilities. NARUC represents the interests of State public utility commissions before the three branches of the Federal government.

# # # #