Nevada’s political leaders voiced skepticism and cautious praise over the White House announcement that it would forgo requesting congressional appropriations to resume licensing of the Yucca Mountain radioactive waste repository in their state.
But lawmakers representing states with stranded waste urged the Trump administration to rethink its decision even before it was official.
This is the first of four Trump budget proposals that does not seek money from Capitol Hill for a licensing restart at the Department of Energy and Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Congress shot down the previous three, the latest of which would have provided about $150 million this year at the two agencies.
Instead, the Energy Department said Monday it has requested $27.5 million for the upcoming fiscal 2021 to advance consolidated interim storage of spent nuclear fuel and management of the federal Nuclear Waste Fund.
President Donald Trump telegraphed the policy shift in a Feb. 6 tweet, saying his administration “is committed to exploring innovative approaches” to radioactive waste disposal. Within an hour, the White House had confirmed Yucca Mountain was off the table in the new budget.
“This is a welcome development in the fight to protect the health and safety of Nevada families now and for generations to come,” Gov. Steve Sisolak (D) wrote in a Feb. 8 letter to Trump, urging him to further pledge to veto bills that would undermine Nevada’s ability to decide whether to accept the waste.
Rep. Dina Titus (D-Nev.) noted that Trump had previously suggested in October 2018, during a visit to Nevada, that his administration would look at an alternative for Yucca Mountain. That was the month before the 2018 midterms and several months before the White House filed its 2020 budget with the latesyt Yucca Mountain licensing ask.
“We shouldn’t trust his empty words,” Titus tweeted. “If he’s serious about stopping Yucca Mountain, he’ll come out in support of the Nuclear Waste Informed Consent Act that I introduced. I’ll wait.”
Titus filed the House legislation last March, with Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) sponsoring a corresponding bill in Congress’ upper chamber. The bills would require assent from leaders of impacted states, local communities, and Native American tribes in siting any nuclear waste repository. Both remain in committee.
Congress in the 1982 Nuclear Waste Policy Act directed the Department of Energy to by Jan. 31, 1998, begin disposal of the nation’s stockpile of high-level radioactive waste from defense nuclear operations and spent fuel from commercial power plants. The law was amended in 1987 to specify Yucca Mountain, about 100 miles from Las Vegas, as the disposal site. That set off a decades-long battle with Nevada, whose leaders have disbelieved federal findings that the repository would pose no danger to the state’s environment, economy, and population.
The Energy Department has yet to dispose of any of the waste, which now stands at about 100,000 metric tons. The agency filed its license application with the NRC in 2008, but the Obama administration defunded the proceeding two years later and it remains frozen.
About four-fifths of the waste is used fuel stored on-site at active and retired power plants, but DOE nuclear facilities such as the Hanford Site in Washington state and Savannah River Site in South Carolina are also holding material.
The Nevada Democratic Party caucuses are scheduled for Saturday, Feb. 22. The party took the governor’s seat and tightened its grip on the state’s congressional delegation in the 2018 midterms, with then-Rep. Jacky Rosen (D) defeating Sen. Dean Heller (R).
“It is disappointing to see Yucca Mountain continued to be used as a political pawn,” Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-Wash.), whose 4th Congressional District covers the Hanford Site, said in prepared comments on Feb. 7. “With 56 million gallons of nuclear waste at the Hanford Site alone, no district in the United States is more dependent on Yucca Mountain than Washington’s 4th. The federal government’s commitment to the cleanup at Hanford relies on a permanent waste repository, and it is important to note that this is simply the law of the land.”
“I will continue to engage with the Trump Administration on why Yucca Mountain is important to South Carolina communities and the 38 other states where nuclear waste sits idle – states where money has been collected for years to establish the repository,” Rep. Jeff Duncan (R-S.C.) said in a statement. “I will encourage President Trump to keep his original position on the matter, the position that has been bipartisan for years: finish Yucca Mountain!”
