The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission split on whether the Energy Department can scrap development work at the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste site in Nevada. The NRC also directed that all of its work on licensing the storage site come to an end by Sept. 30.

The NRC split on whether to uphold or overturn a June 2010 decision by administrative law judges on its licensing board. The judges last year rejected a move by the Energy Department to withdraw from the NRC's licensing process for the waste site. One of the NRC's five commissioners was recused from the vote and the remaining four were evenly split.

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