Sandoval appoints acting director for nuclear agency

Gov. Brian Sandoval has appointed a veteran administrator to keep up the fight against placing nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain in Southern Nevada.

Joseph C. Strolin, formerly a planning division administrator for the Agency for Nuclear Projects, has agreed to be acting director of the agency until the governor can find a permanent director.

Strolin had retired in 2009, after which he consulted for the agency.

During his career, Strolin helped compile more than 200 reports on the socioeconomic, transportation and risk effects associated with the proposed waste site.

Sandoval said Strolin's four decades of service will be "extremely beneficial" as the state continues to fight against the site.

In a press release, the governor's staff noted that Strolin will not take his consulting pay or his retirement benefits while serving as acting director for the agency.

Sandoval appointed former director Bruce Breslow to lead the Department of Motor Vehicles.