Dr. Fred Dilger, a staunch Yucca Mountain critic, has been named Executive Director of Nevada’s Agency for Nuclear Projects by Gov. Steve Sisolak.
“Dr. Dilger has been at the forefront in our State’s efforts in nuclear waste policy and in halting the Yucca Mountain Project,” Sisolak tweeted Monday evening.
Nevada’s Agency for Nuclear Projects/Nuclear Waste Project Office is the state group charged with monitoring Department of Energy (DOE) activities related to activities surrounding a potential permanent high-level nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain and to carry out the state’s duties under the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982.
Dilger previously worked as a transportation advisor for the agency and has published a number of papers and a book related to nuclear waste transportation. He will replace previous director Robert Halstead, who retired in August after years of anti-Yucca advocacy on the state’s behalf. Halstead was also staunchly opposed to the Yucca Mountain project, sparring with the Department of Energy over the course of his time in the position.
“I do not believe Yucca Mountain will ever be constructed,” Dilger said in a 2018 interview with the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce. “When we look at the Department of Energy’s track record in terms of construction and doing things like this, we think there are a lot of problems there. I expect that even if the licensing were to be funded in the near term, it would not receive enough funds over time…and then it would sputter off for a number of years.”
Dilger graduated from Pennsylvania State University and earned master’s degrees from the University of London and the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and a doctorate in environmental planning from Arizona State University. He will be paid a salary up to $129,780 per year, according to the job posting.
