Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff visit the proposed high-level waste repository site at Yucca Mountain, Nevada, Dec. 1, 2014. | Nuclear Regulatory Commission/Flickr
Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff visit the proposed high-level waste repository site at Yucca Mountain, Nevada, Dec. 1, 2014. | Nuclear Regulatory Commission/Flickr
The federal government has nixed plans to develop a repository that would have disposed of the nation’s radioactive garbage at Yucca Mountain.
The facility would have been located roughly 65 miles from the Clark County, Nevada, metro, according to a Sept. 20 state government news release.
“It is time to take the lessons learned from the Yucca Mountain experiment and chalk them up to experience,” said Gov. Steve Sisolak (D-NC) in the release. “This is a fight that Nevada has battled since 1987. The past three presidential administrations have agreed that Yucca Mountain is unworkable. It is time for this administration and the Department of Energy to follow through and support the case made by Nevada’s leaders, legislators, experts, and legal team”
The Nevada Agency for Nuclear Projects and Sisolak had filed a legal motion with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to finalize any further attempts to revive the project, the release stated.
“I’ve opposed every attempt to revive the failed Yucca Mountain project, and it’s time we take this unsuitable site off the table once and for all,” Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), said in the release. “I support Nevada’s efforts to end the licensing process for Yucca Mountain, and I will continue to work with all stakeholders at the federal, state, local, and Tribal levels to find a safe, workable, and consent-based alternative.”
The state is asking the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to continue the adjudicative phase of the licensing procedures to stop the project, according to the release.
“For years, I have been fighting alongside our delegation to prevent Nevada from ever becoming the nation’s dumping ground for nuclear waste because it threatens our state’s security, economy, and public health,” Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-NV), said in the release. “That’s why I’m strongly supporting Nevada’s actions to finally put an end to Yucca Mountain, taking steps that would block future misguided efforts to try to revive this ill-conceived project against our state’s consent.”
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