Nevadans in Congress nearly united against nuke dump funding

From staff and wire reports

Published Thursday, March 16, 2017 | 7:50 a.m.

Updated Thursday, March 16, 2017 | 2:25 p.m.

Nevada's congressional delegation is nearly united decrying President Donald Trump's request for Congress to allocate $120 million to restart the licensing process for a national nuclear waste dump in the desert outside Las Vegas.

The state's U.S. senators, Republican Dean Heller and Democrat Catherine Cortez Masto, fired off a letter Thursday to new Energy Secretary Rick Perry declaring the mothballed Yucca Mountain project dead and beyond resuscitation.

Heller called it a “reckless proposal” and said, “We will not be the nation’s nuclear waste dump.”

Democratic Reps. Dina Titus, Ruben Kihuen, and Jacky Rosen declared they won't let Nevada become the nation's nuclear dumping ground. Republican Rep. Mark Amodei did not issue an immediate comment. He has said he is open to completing Yucca Mountain's licensing process.

“It looks like they are going to declare war again,” said Robert Halstead, head of the Nevada Nuclear Projects Office. “We are prepared to defeat this again.”

Nevada is gearing up to add dozens more reasons to a list of 218 already accepted by the NRC about why transporting, storing and monitoring the most radioactive material in the U.S. cannot be done safely at Yucca Mountain.

Assembly Speaker Jason Frierson, D-Las Vegas, said the decision threatens the health and safety of Nevadans. A resolution was introduced in the Assembly Wednesday to keep Yucca closed.

Gov. Brian Sandoval said it is a waste of time and money pursuing the project and called on Trump to review the decision.

“The private sector has demonstrated that they can address the problem of spent nuclear fuel more efficiently, at far less expense to the federal government and they can do so in partnership with a willing host state,” Sandoval said.

Whit Askew, vice president of government relations for the American Gaming Association, said the group would work tirelessly with concerned citizens, small business operators and members of Congress to ensure high-level waste “is never stored anywhere near the world’s premier tourist, convention and entertainment destination."

Former Nevada Sen. Harry Reid in 2007 convinced Congress to cut off federal funding for Yucca Mountain. He declared the proposal dead, and the Energy Department under President Barack Obama shuttered the project in 2010.

A federal court in 2013 revived the proposal when it ordered the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to resume the Yucca Mountain licensing process. It cited lawsuits by states and utilities promised a place to put their radioactive waste.

Texas this week lodged another lawsuit with the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals seeking to spur the NRC to decide if Yucca Mountain is safe and should be licensed to accept spent nuclear fuel.

In rural Nye County, the county commission chairman is welcoming the president's call to fund hearings for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to decide if Yucca Mountain is safe and should be licensed to accept spent nuclear fuel.

Las Vegas Sun reporter Cy Ryan and the Associated Press contributed to this report.