A senior Department of Energy official on Wednesday walked back week-old comments suggesting the Trump administration still supports advancing development of a nuclear waste repository under Yucca Mountain in Nevada.
“I have spoken to the White House and the Administration will not be pursuing Yucca Mountain as a solution for nuclear waste, and there are no funds in the budget to do so,” Undersecretary of Energy Mark Menezes said in a statement Wednesday. “I am fully supportive of the President’s decision and applaud him for taking action when so many others have failed to do so.”
Menezes is waiting on a formal nomination to become deputy secretary of energy, the No. 2 position at DOE. The White House announced the intended nomination on Feb. 13, but had yet to file it with Congress at deadline for Weapons Complex Morning Briefing.
Appearing before a House Energy and Commerce subcommittee on Feb. 12, Menezes said the Energy Department’s budget plan for fiscal 2021 is intended to put the federal government on “a path” toward permanent disposal of U.S. nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain. However, that appeared at odds with the spending proposal itself, which provided $27.5 million to advance interim storage of radioactive waste and nothing for licensing the Nevada repository at the Energy Department and Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Just days before the budget rollout, President Donald Trump tweeted that he heard Nevada’s opposition to being forced to take other states’ nuclear waste and that his administration “is committed to exploring innovative approaches” for disposal. That came after unsuccessful efforts in three prior budget cycles to persuade Congress to appropriate funds for licensing the repository.
“Under Secretary Menezes and The Department of Energy fully support finding an alternative to Yucca Mountain for the storage of nuclear waste,” DOE spokeswoman Kelly Love said by email Wednesday. “Respecting the will of the people of Nevada, the President’s budget calls for finding innovative alternatives for the safe and efficient disposal of our nation’s nuclear waste.”
Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette is scheduled to testify on his agency’s $35.4 billion budget request next Thursday before the House Appropriations enrergy and water subcommittee. Fiscal 2021 begins on Oct. 1.
