WASHINGTON — In a setback for the Obama administration, a panel of judges at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission ruled Tuesday that the Energy Department could not withdraw its application to open a nuclear-waste dump at Yucca Mountain in Nevada.
Making good on a campaign pledge by President Barack Obama, the Energy Department had formally sought to drop its plan for Yucca Mountain, a volcanic structure about 100 miles from Las Vegas.
States with major accumulations of waste from nuclear weapons production had petitioned to prevent the department from doing so.
In a 47-page decision, the three-member panel of administrative judges said the Energy Department lacked the authority to drop the petition because it would flout a law passed by Congress.
