Commissioner William Ostendorff, who is leaving his post at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in June, said Friday that he’s not a zealot for the repository proposed at Yucca Mountain, but rather for following the law.
Ostendorff spoke with media over the phone Friday afternoon as he prepares to leave NRC for a teaching position with his alma mater, the United States Naval Academy. When his term expires June 30, he will have served about five years with the commission, a tenure with Yucca Mountain as one of the central issues.
Ostendorff in 2010 voted to deny the Department of Energy’s motion to withdraw its license application for Yucca Mountain. The commission found itself evenly divided over the issue, and the adjudicatory process for the filing remains suspended.
“At that time I thought that the Nuclear Waste Policy Act was very clear of the requirements for a geologic repository in accordance with a federal statute,” Ostendorff said Friday. “I believe in the rule of law. I’m not a zealot for Yucca. I am a zealot for following the law, and if Congress and the administration do not like Yucca Mountain as a repository, I’m very open to seeing them amend the Nuclear Waste Policy Act. That has not happened, and I’ve seen very little progress in that area.”
