U.S. Sen. Dean Heller (R-Nev.) continued to pound the pulpit this week in opposition to the proposed Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository in his state, vowing to lead the fight against the Trump administration’s apparent plan to revive the dormant project.
“I’m standing between this Republican administration and Yucca, and I will lead this fight,” Heller told members of the Nevada Legislature on Monday. “It’s a reckless proposal.”
The Legislature released video of the address, which Weapons Complex Morning Briefing has edited for length.
Heller has sustained his battle against Yucca during Congress’ spring recess. Last week, he asked the leaders of the Senate Appropriations Committee not to provide any funding in the current budget year to revive the Energy Department’s license application for Yucca Mountain with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission — although no lawmakers have indicated publicly that they want to include such money in the must-pass spending bill Congress is slated to take up when the recess ends next week.
The Trump administration has proposed spending $120 million in fiscal 2018 on interim storage of nuclear waste and restarting the Yucca licensing process with the NRC. The Obama administration halted that application in 2010.
Legally, Yucca is still the only congressionally approved site for permanent storage of spent nuclear fuel from by U.S. power plants, and high-level radioactive waste created by the government’s nuclear weapons programs.
Nevada has been fighting the project since Congress annointed Yucca as the nation’s main nuclear waste-disposal site in 1987 and continues to oppose the project at every turn.
