@SgtRock: Thanks for the links to The Hill and Washington Post articles in this subject! The linked articles and the reader comments hit the problem dead on tartget:

My favorite response is: "Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository is the heart of this. Reid, Jaczko and Obama engaged in a blatant conspracy reagrding the site. Since there are no valid technical reasons to shut it down, and Reid wanted it shut down, a deal was struck.
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Obama got what he wanted, Reid's buddy Jaczko got the NRC job (which he is obviously unqualified for) and Obama summarily shut down Yucca against all qualified technical recommendations .
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Now we are watching the fallout of a lousy deal. The NRC staff is unwilling to be railroaded into political decisions that go against a life of service making safe decisions based on sound technical data. Jaczko is frustrated as H311 that he cannot bully professional engineers and scientists into ignoring their duty to society and make them knuckle under to a political deal that their 'betters' have struck behind closed doors.
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It is just that simple, people.
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It is the American way for political deals to subvert any good engineering. In this case however, the political crooks have come up against a group of people who have dedicated their lives to nuclear safety, and they are going down swinging. GO NRC!"

@ Future and @ SgtRock: A BIG thank you for saving me the time and keystrokes to respond to the SUN and the likes of Colin and Star, and I'm sure Birdie will chime in soon...

Folks, get REAL... 1) Nevada is ~85 Government land, 2) the NWPA is STILL the law of the land, 3) ONLY through Reid's corrupt ways is Jaczko the NRC Chairman, 4) Las Vegas & NV desperately needs the jobs and cash flow, 5) Jaczko will be discredited as the political tool that he is, 6) the final determination by the NRC will be that the YMP is safe and can be constructed, and 7) when Reid is no longer Senate Majority Leader in 2012, the YMP will be back on as fast as you can say "Go Nukes!" : )

Reid and Jaczko Need To Go!!!! What the administration is doing to the Yucca Mountain Project is completely corrupt!!!

Dirty Harry "The War is Lost" Reid planted his former Science Advisor, Gregory Jaczko (and he also worked for anti-nuke Ed Markey) on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. His placement was coerced after Reid held up ~100 Bush appointees until he was forced to cave. Reid then pushed for him to be the Chairman of the NRC under Obama SPECIFICALLY so he could derail the NRC Review of the YMP License Application from the inside.

In addition, he got Steven Chu to flip-flop his position on the YMP, just months after signing with the other National Lab Leads that the YMR was the path to pursue, in order to gain appointment to the Secretary of Energy job -- So much for "Sound Science." Chu may be the one person that Congress could prove violated the law by trying to withdraw the YMP License Application...

Further, during their confirmation hearing questioning lead by Democrats, the sitting NRC Commissioners all had to agree that they would not raise a challenge if the DOE were to pull its YMP License Application in order to be confirmed.

All of these players and obstructionists are in violation of the LAW!!! Reid, Waxman, Jaczko, Chu, Berkley, Heller ALL need to be thrown out of their jobs" I'd even go further and have them arrested for violating Federal Law.

The ongoing BRC effort is just one big stall tactic!!! Otherwise, the BRC members would have been permitted to include the Yucca Mountain Repository in their evaluation. I also do not buy into the allegation that the people of Nevada do not want the repository. I know Nye County wants it!!! My home is in Las Vegas, and except for the vocal minority that appeared at NRC-DOE public meetings on the YMR, the people I talked to while out and about were generally indifferent to the YMR and usually only knew the misinformation that the Reid media machine pumped out to the masses.

People need to read the findings presented in the recent Space, Science, and Technology subcommittee report. It reveals the NRC's safety determination in SER Volume 3, finding that the Yucca Mountain Project License Application meets the regulatory requirements for going forward with a Construction Permit. The committee's findings also reveal not just a pattern, but a systematic and active effort on the part of the Administration to obfuscate, delay, and muzzle scientific and technical information and related processes in order to shut down Yucca Mountain.

I should add that as a former NRC Licensing Project Manager, I believe Jaczko's actions are completely destroying the NRC's credibility and their reputation as a non-partisan regulator.

@Abe: Abe, I've worked with you and I respect you, but I think you better re-read that report signed by Chu and 9 other Lab Leads.

In August 2008, all ten National Lab directors, including Secretary Chu, signed a letter on the essential role of nuclear energy, which advocated continuing the licensing of a geologic repository at Yucca Mountain.

The August 2008 report stated, in part: [nuclear waste] "confidence can be achieved by continuing the licensing of a geologic repository at Yucca Mountain..."

I read that to say Chu, and the 9 others, supported going forward with the YMR.

@Teamster: You're clueless, the NRC staff -- NOT the Politicians -- put public safety first!!! What Obama, Reid, Jaczko, Chu, and Markey are doing is STRICTLY political and corrupt.

@Teamster: You're clueless, the NRC staff -- NOT the Politicians -- put public safety first!!! What Obama, Reid, Jaczko, Chu, and Markey are doing is STRICTLY political and corrupt.

Dirty Harry "The War is Lost" Reid planted his former Science Advisor, Gregory Jaczko (and he also worked for anti-nuke Ed Markey) on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. His placement was forced after Reid held up ~100 Bush appointees until he had to cave. Reid then pushed for him to be the Chairman of the NRC under Obama SPECIFICALLY so he could derail the NRC Review of the YMP License Application from the inside.

In addition, he got Steven Chu to flip-flop his position on the YMP (after signing with the other National Lab Leads that the YMR was the path to pursue) in order to gain appointment to the Secretary of Energy job -- So much for "Sound Science"" Chu may be the one person that Congress could prove violated the law...

Further, the sitting NRC Commissioners all had to agree that they would not challenge if DOE were to pull its License Application during their confirmation hearings in order to be confirmed.

All of these players and obstructionists are in violation of the LAW!!! Reid, Waxman, Jaczko, Chu, Berkley, Heller ALL need to be thrown out of their jobs" I'd even go further and have them arrested for violating Federal Law.

I should add that as a former NRC Licensing Project Manager, I believe Jaczko's actions are completely destroying the NRC's credibility and their reputation as a non-partisan regulator"

Hey Coolican and your "Here's what's happened, though as often is the case, the surface facts don't tell us what's really going on." what a farse... Here's the real story:

Jaczko Need To Go!!!! What the administration is doing to the Yucca Mountain Project is completely corrupt!!!

Dirty Harry "The War is Lost" Reid planted his former Science Advisor, Gregory Jaczko (and he also worked for anti-nuke Ed Markey) on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. His placement was forced after Reid held up ~100 Bush appointees until he had to cave. Reid then pushed for him to be the Chairman of the NRC under Obama SPECIFICALLY so he could derail the NRC Review of the YMP License Application from the inside.

In addition, he got Steven Chu to flip-flop his position on the YMP (after signing with the other National Lab Leads that the YMR was the path to pursue) in order to gain appointment to the Secretary of Energy job -- So much for "Sound Science"" Chu may be the one person that Congress could prove violated the law...

Further, the sitting NRC Commissioners all had to agree that they would not challenge if DOE were to pull its License Application during their confirmation hearings in order to be confirmed.

All of these players and obstructionists are in violation of the LAW!!! Reid, Waxman, Jaczko, Chu, Berkley, Heller ALL need to be thrown out of their jobs" I'd even go further and have them arrested for violating Federal Law.

The ongoing BRC effort is just one big stall tactic!!! Otherwise, the BRC members would have been permitted to include the Yucca Mountain Repository in their evaluation. I also do not buy into the allegation that the people of Nevada do not want the repository. I know Nye County wants it!!! My home is in Las Vegas, and except for the vocal minority that appeared at NRC-DOE public meetings on the YMR, the people I talked to while out and about were generally indifferent to the YMR and usually only knew the misinformation that the Reid media machine pumped out to the masses.

People need to read the findings presented in the recent Space, Science, and Technology subcommittee report. It reveals the NRC's safety determination in SER Volume 3, finding that the Yucca Mountain Project License Application meets the regulatory requirements for going forward with a Construction Permit. The committee's findings also reveal not just a pattern, but a systematic and active effort on the part of the Administration to obfuscate, delay, and muzzle scientific and technical information and related processes in order to shut down Yucca Mountain.

I should add that as a former NRC Licensing Project Manager, I believe Jaczko's actions are completely destroying the NRC's credibility and their reputation as a non-partisan regulator"

Abe: You have the patience of Jobe!!! Keep up the good work in correcting the nonsense.

Hey Wedo, bite me! That fact is, as "Future" pointed out above, that the article is disengenuous. If certain SUN reader wish to remain ignorant, that's their choice. However, misinformation spewed in articles like this are what lead to the masses becoming ignorant!!!!

Birdie: Lay off the drugs, would ya!?!?!? Your ignorance about radiation and its effects is astounding!!!!

Peice = piece... Peace