Trump is using Yucca Mountain to drum up Republican votes

The waste problem continues to weigh down nuclear power

Trump is using Yucca Mountain to drum up Republican votes in the 2020 elections, Nevada Democrat says, By Benjamin J. Hulac

Roll Call February 26, 2020

The U.S. has more than 90,000 metric tons of nuclear waste that needs to be disposed, the vast majority of which is so-called spent fuel from commercial reactors, meaning it is no longer efficient for power generation.

Generally, all this waste is sitting where it was created: at 76 sites in 35 states. And while the tally of waste is only going to grow, there is no long-term national storage solution, and this month the Trump administration may have put the final nail in the coffin of a long-studied effort to build a permanent repository for high-level waste at Yucca Mountain in Nevada……

President Donald Trump’s fiscal 2021 budget proposal released this month does not include funding for licensing of Yucca Mountain as a nuclear waste repository located about 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas, an abrupt reversal of his administration’s policy.

“Nevada, I hear you on Yucca Mountain and my Administration will RESPECT you!” Trump tweeted on Feb. 6, four days before the budget proposal was released. “Congress and previous Administrations have long failed to find lasting solutions — my Administration is committed to exploring innovative approaches — I’m confident we can get it done!”

The president is using Yucca to drum up Republican votes in the 2020 elections, says Nevada Democratic Rep. Dina Titus. “I think he’s looking at the numbers,” Titus says. “He sees this as a swing issue.”…….

There are more than 76 commercial reactors in the U.S. that are idling with spent nuclear fuel on site, NEI says. The Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 calls for waste to be stored deep in the ground, and amendments to that law bound the Department of Energy to study sites for such a repository in just one place: Yucca Mountain in the Mojave Desert.

While the Bush administration greenlighted storage at Yucca, the Obama administration reversed course and established a commission, which, in 2012, called for a “consent-based” process to the problem. ……

Nevada’s congressional delegation and governor firmly oppose Yucca…….

An interim-storage pilot program worth $22.5 million and sponsored by Sens. Dianne Feinstein, a California Democrat, and Lamar Alexander, a Tennessee Republican, held some promise, but it was stripped out of the latest budget deal…..

https://www.rollcall.com/2020/02/26/the-waste-problem-continues-to-weigh-down-nuclear-power/

February 27, 2020 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | election USA 2020

2 Comments »

Trump’s largest donors are Las Vegas Casino magnate Sheldon Adelson and his wife Miriam. They are also being sued over Israel settlements. I think they donated a combined $25 million — maybe more. The figures are in my blog or easily found online. So, no Yucca Mountain and Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and Israeli settlements stay – largely because the Adelsons say so. Plus, Trump has been friends with Netanyahu for decades. Bernie Sanders’ campaign manager used to work for Harry Reid of Nevada. And, Bernie has always preferred to dump waste on poor folk in west Texas and New Mexico.

Comment by miningawareness | March 1, 2020 | Reply
Trump’s largest donors are Las Vegas Casino magnate Sheldon Adelson and his wife Miriam. They are also being sued over Israel settlements. I think they donated a combined $25 million — maybe more. The figures are in my blog or easily found online. So, no Yucca Mountain, and Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and Israeli settlements stay – largely because the Adelsons say so. Plus, Trump has been friends with Netanyahu for decades. Bernie Sanders’ campaign manager used to work for Harry Reid of Nevada, who opposed Yucca. And, Bernie has always preferred to dump waste on poor folk in west Texas and New Mexico, especially Vermont waste. No Yucca means “interim” storage parking lots in Texas and NM. When I learned this is when I started hating Bernie Sanders. I used to believe that he was really an anti-nuclear environmentalist. He’s not even talking about shutting down nuclear power stations, but only about not relicensing but they are all relicensed. And, while he says he’s against new nuclear, ultimately the US Congress will determine that, as nuclear can’t survive without government funding and Congress has the power of the purse. Bernie’s co-chair, Ro Khanna’s, wealthy wife is still investing in dirty energy, including nuclear utilities and pipelines, while Ro Khanna promotes the green new deal. She’s worth at least $25 million and could invest that in green energy. Thus, I conclude that Bernie’s a big fraud and I think he’s a foreign agent. The only funding for his “Medicare for All” is the Medicare Trust fund for senior citizens. It proposes to dismantle the oversight board, too, and replace it with the HHS secretary. HHS secretary changes with each presidency and currently is held by a former big pharma executive/lobbyist. It doesn’t take any imagination to think up what sorts of price “deals” he will come up with for this proposed hyper-centralized medical system.

Comment by miningawareness | March 1, 2020 | Reply

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