"The Energy Department ignored the law by shutting down a controversial Nevada nuclear waste site because of opposition within the state, Republican and Democratic lawmakers complained at a hearing on Wednesday.

A plan to bury radioactive waste from nuclear power plants deep inside Yucca Mountain has been debated in Congress and the courts for decades, but after a tsunami swamped Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in March the issue has taken on new urgency.

Energy Secretary Steven Chu killed the Yucca plan in 2010, citing opposition from people in the state."
 
Roberta Rampton reports for Reuters June 2, 2011. [2]