DOE to give Yucca Mountain license application in June

WASHINGTON " The head of the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste dump project says that despite budget cuts, the Energy Department will meet a self-imposed June deadline for submitting a required license application to build the repository.

Ward Sproat said earlier this year that the June 30 deadline was in jeopardy because Congress cut more than $100 million cut from Yucca Mountain's 2008 budget at the urging of Sen. Harry Reid of Nevada.

But Sproat told a Nuclear Regulatory Commission conference Thursday that after reviewing the budget, he's determined the deadline will be met after all.

The NRC will has the responsibility of reviewing the license application and deciding whether to authorize construction of the dump, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas.