Hagel named to nuclear waste panel

Ploughshares Fund board member Chuck Hagel, who represented the state of Nebraska in the U.S. Senate, was appointed by President Obama to a panel studying the problems of nuclear waste storage, processing and disposal.  The Blue Ribbon Commission on America's Nuclear Future, chaired by former Representative Lee Hamilton (D-IN) and longtime presidential advisor Brent Scowcroft,  will be given two years to do its work.  Energy Secretary Steven Chu said the commission will have a free hand to examine a "full range of scientific and technical options" on waste storage, reprocessing and disposal, with one exception: the once-favored Yucca Mountain underground repository, which President Obama strongly opposes.