Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced today his department's long-awaited commission to address nuclear waste.

After the administration last year halted plans to store waste at the Yucca Mountain site in Nevada, President Obama directed Chu to appoint the commission to explore alternative policy options.

"The restart of the nuclear industry is a key part of our response to climate change," Chu told reporters in a conference call today. He added that the commission, which will produce an interim report within 18 months and a final report within 2 years, would "look at a full range of technical and policy options" and be "focused on solutions, not ideology."

But Chu didn't elaborate on what kinds of options -- such as another large, Yucca-style repository or smaller storage units around the country -- are on the table as alternatives.

Certainly, Yucca Mountain is not an option anymore. Obama's energy and climate czar, Carol Browner, who was also on the call, was relatively quiet until a question was asked about the waste facility. "As the president has said many times, we're done with Yucca and we need to be about looking for alternatives," Browner said forcefully. When asked why the administration has taken Yucca out of consideration, Browner said it was the president's choice and they were carrying out his decision.

Co-chairing the panel will be former Rep. Lee Hamilton, a member of two of Obama's national security boards, and former National Security Adviser Brent Scowcroft. Former Sens. Chuck Hagel and Pete Domenici will be among the panel's 13 other members.

Hamilton, who was on the call as well, said the science on nuclear waste has advanced since the Yucca site was proposed two decades ago.

Chu declined to comment when asked about reports that Obama would triple the amount of nuclear loan guarantees in his 2011 budget. DOE is expected to announce soon what companies will receive loans under the existing program, approved by Congress in 2005.

Brief biographies on Hamilton and Scowcroft and a list of the 13 waste commission members are below.

Hamilton is currently a member of Obama's Intelligence Advisory Board, Homeland Security Advisory council and was vice chairman of the 9/11 commission. Scowcroft was national security advisor to both Presidents George H.W. Bush and Gerald Ford and now runs an international business advisory firm.

In addition to Hamilton and Scowcroft, the commission includes 13 members:

• Mark Ayers: president of the Building and Construction Trades Department at AFL-CIO.

• Vicky Bailey: former Commissioner at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

• Albert Carnesale: Chancellor Emeritus and Professor at UCLA

• Former Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M: senior fellow at the Bipartisan Policy Center

• Susan Eisenhower: president of the Eisenhower Group

• Former Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-N.E.

• Jonathan Lash: president of the World Resources Institute

• Allison Macfarlane: associate professor of environmental science and policy at George Mason University

• Dick Meserve: former Nuclear Regulatory Commission chairman

• Ernie Moniz: physics professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology

• Per Peterson: professor and chair at the nuclear engineering department at University of California - Berkeley

• John Rowe: chairman and CEO of Exelon Corporation

• Phil Sharp: president of Resources for the Future

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