nuclear-news

After a seven-year respite, it appears that the federal government wants to take another crack at opening the Yucca Mountain Nuclear Waste Repository in southern Nevada, a project that state leaders have opposed since it was first pitched in the early 1980s.

The RGJ Editorial Board urges its state leaders and congressional representatives to keep the fight going — because once again, Nevada is being kept on the sidelines of the discussion.

In 2011, federal funding for the site was cut off by the Obama administration. The government at the time noted that shutting down work at Yucca was a political decision and not based on safety concerns. (Of course, this is the same federal government that assured 20th-century Nevada that nuclear testing posed no health problems.) But the Department of Energy and Nuclear Regulatory Commission has blindsided the state by asking for $150 million this year to pursue licensing for the shuttered facility.

At first glance, Nevada looks to be outnumbered in this fight. Spent fuel has been piling up for decades at 61 nuclear power plants around the country, and about one in three Americans live within 50 miles of a nuclear plant, according to 2010 census data.