Oregon Public Broadcasting

Washington Governor Chris Gregoire told a federal commission Thursday to keep Nevada's Yucca Mountain on the table as a possible nuclear waste repository. Gregoire made the comments to a blue ribbon panel studying the future of nuclear waste in the U.S.

President Obama created the commission after deciding to halt construction at Yucca Mountain. That's where the government had planned to store nuclear waste from Hanford Nuclear Reservation.

Gregoire said the U.S. Department of Energy needs a new can-do culture.

Chris Gregoire: "And that culture cannot continue to be plan and plan and plan. It's got to be get on with the construction. The goal is to commission. The goal is to get going. We've got to get those tanks emptied. We just do. We have a plume that is headed to the Columbia River."

Gregoire said she supports an in-depth review of how the U.S. manages nuclear waste. But she said Yucca Mountain should not be permanently removed from consideration.

Washington and South Carolina have sued to block the Energy Department from killing the project.