The year in Yucca Mountain (well, thus far anyway)

Aerial image of Yucca Mountain's ridge lineThe Las Vegas Review Journal is the paper of record on the proposed Yucca Mountain high-level radioactive waste dump. Its archive for 2011 describes the latest twists and turns in the more than 25 year roller coaster ride at the Yucca Mountain Project. This includes a U.S. House Republican witch hunt targeting U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chairman Greg Jaczko for the Obama administration's decision to cancel the project, even though its been clearly established by the NRC's Office of Inspector General that Jaczko has acted within the law, and within his authority over NRC's budget and administration, in his moves to end NRC's licensing activities surrounding Yucca. However, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, the second highest court in the land, could rule at any time now on a case brought by the State of Washington, the State of South Carolina, Aiken County (South Carolina), and a trio of Washington State businessmen, challening Obama's Yucca cancellation as illegal.