Gov. Jim Gibbons of Nevada is urging Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to ensure Congress repeals the Nuclear Waste Policy Act that designates Yucca Mountain as a high-level nuclear dump. President Obama has supported the Yucca cancellation but Gibbons expressed impatience with the apparent slow progress. "Every few weeks or months we hear from someone in Congress that Yucca Mountain is dead, yet the project and the licensing process continue," Gibbons said. Gibbons reportedly told Reid to "put up or shut up" on working to stop Yucca while Reid's office fired back that "Gibbons has done very little as governor to advance the state's fight against Yucca Mountain."
Meanwhile, as previously reported on these pages, President Obama looks set to nominate a pro-Yucca candidate to a commission seat at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission if William Magwood - the rumored candidate - takes the job.