The Feb. 8 editorial, "A whole lot of nothing in panel's recommendation," contains technical errors and misses the importance of recommendations made. I was upset with President Obama's decision to stop the Yucca Mountain Project, but the Blue Ribbon Commission on America's Nuclear Future did an outstanding job. The panel's task was "America's Nuclear Future" and specifically the back-end of the nuclear fuel cycle, not Yucca licensing.

They recommend reinstating, removed in 1987, interim storage into the Nuclear Waste Policy Act. This is logical. Spent fuel is now stored at each nuclear plant, and the design/construction of interim facilities is relatively easy.

They recommend regional storage facilities approved through a "consent-based process." We do not live in 1943. Plenty of "red states" would like a multi-billion dollar interim storage facility. Yucca is a viable interim site.

The commission recommends legislation to ensure dedicated funding. A third of the money collected from nuclear utilities was spent on Yucca Mountain. The rest went into the general budget. This proposal would provide $750 million a year for waste research and interim storage facilities.

The panel de-emphasized "permanent" storage by designating it for special waste types/fuels and not high value nuclear materials, such as plutonium and uranium. Twenty-five years wasted on the design/research of the Yucca "permanent" storage facility supports this recommendation.

Robert Benedetti, Richland