Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Budget bill excludes money for Yucca nuke dump

Yucca Mountain

Isaac Brekken / AP

In this April 13, 2006, file photo, an underground train at the entrance of Yucca Mountain in Nevada.

A budget bill passed by the House does not include money for work to develop and build a nuclear waste dump outside Las Vegas.

President Donald Trump has proposed reviving a long-stalled nuclear waste repository at Nevada's Yucca Mountain, 100 miles from Las Vegas. The state's Republican governor and Nevada lawmakers from both parties oppose the plan.

Republican Sen. Dean Heller, who faces a tough re-election this fall, pushed to exclude funding for Yucca from the massive spending bill, as did Democratic Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto.

A spokesman for Cortez Masto says she was pleased that Congress "has recognized this boondoggle for what it is." Spokesman Ryan King adds that Cortez Masto "will continue to fight like hell to make sure any efforts to revive Yucca Mountain in Congress are blocked."