Top Nevada officials line up behind resolution to block Yucca Mountain project

By Yvonne Gonzalez

Tuesday, March 21, 2017 | 2 a.m.

A resolution against plans to store spent nuclear fuel at Yucca Mountain came up for discussion in the Legislature as the Trump administration seeks to revive the project.

Assembly Joint Resolution 10 expresses opposition to the plan and came up for a hearing in the subcommittee on energy Monday. Assemblyman Chris Brooks, D-Las Vegas, was among the lawmakers to sponsor the resolution.

Robert Halstead is the executive director at the state’s agency for nuclear projects, part of Gov. Brian Sandoval’s office, and he said during the Monday hearing that the governor supports AJR 10. First Assistant Attorney General Wesley Duncan spoke in support of the resolution Monday on behalf of Attorney General Adam Laxalt.

Gov. Brian Sandoval and other Nevada officials from both parties have expressed opposition to reviving the plan since President Donald Trump included funding for it in his recently released budget blueprint.

Trump wants $120 million to “restart licensing activities for the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository and initiate a robust interim storage program,” his blueprint says. “These investments would accelerate progress on fulfilling the federal government’s obligations to address nuclear waste, enhance national security, and reduce future taxpayer burden.”

Nye County Commission Chairman Dan Schinhofen said Monday that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission should be allowed to restart its hearings on Yucca Mountain, which is in his county on federal land. He said Nye County is already the home of two radioactive dumps.

“Our board for years has always stood for the rule of law and science,” he said. “Until we have had a chance to hear the science that has been collected over the past 30 years, at a cost of $15 billion, we will not go on record as being for or against this project.”

Schinhofen said that if it’s proven safe, the project would “provide many benefits as a multigenerational, multibillion-dollar public works project.”

The Atomic Energy Act passed by Congress in 1954 makes the federal government responsible for disposing of radioactive waste. The Yucca Mountain project stalled while President Barack Obama and Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., were in office.

Some have advocated for requiring states to consent before hosting repositories, and Schinhofen said his county knows from experience that method doesn’t work.

“Please do not pass this resolution in its current form, but rather join with us in demanding that the science be heard and that the state’s 218 contentions are given a chance to be proven,” Schinhofen told the subcommittee members.

Brooks, who is listed with nine sponsors and 23 co-sponsors of the resolution, said elected officials, conservationists and Native American tribes have opposed storing nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain for years.

“Storing nuclear waste 100 miles from Las Vegas, in an unstable and unsuitable environment, is incredibly dangerous, not to mention that it will threaten the lifeblood of our economy, tourism,” he said. “As a fourth-generation Nevadan, it is disturbing that the president would ignore years of bipartisan work to end any kind of licensing at Yucca Mountain.”

Critics including Laxalt call the plan an example of federal overreach and are concerned about the potential instability of the site.

“The White House’s new proposed budget request of $120 million to restart the Yucca Mountain licensing proceeding before the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission does nothing to transform this example of federal overreach into a good, safe or financially prudent project,” Duncan said. “Yucca Mountain itself is an unstable site with a host of insurmountable problems.”

He said the state’s 218 contentions have been accepted in the suspended licensing proceeding, and that more are likely if the process moves forward.

“The office of the attorney general is committed to using all legal means to continue to vigorously oppose this project,” Duncan said.

Laxalt’s office and the state Agency for Nuclear Projects are seeking separate budget proposals totaling $3.6 million to represent Nevada’s interests before the NRC and in court.

“AJR 10 memorializes the Legislature’s historic opposition to the Yucca Mountain project and is important for our state to continue to work in a bipartisan fashion to oppose Yucca Mountain,” Duncan said. “The Nevada Attorney General's Office supports it without reservation.”

No action was taken during the hearing.