WASHINGTON—The Energy Department filed to withdraw an application for a nuclear-waste repository at Yucca Mountain, formally seeking Wednesday to reverse a Bush administration policy.

The Obama administration's Energy Department has said that it hopes to develop a new plan for long-term disposal of nuclear waste. The Energy Department has established a blue-ribbon panel to make recommendations.

The application has been pending with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission since June 2008, when the Bush administration applied for a license for the first national repository for spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste. The Environmental Protection Agency later set radiation standards for the proposed facility, and the government awarded a $2.5 billion contract to a URS Corp. unit to manage the facility.

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