Tuesday, April 30, 2019 | 10:28 a.m.
CARSON CITY — Gov. Steve Sisolak said he is against a U.S. Senate bill that would advance the implementation of the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository.
The bill — the Nuclear Waste Policy Amendments Act of 2019 — is sponsored by U.S. Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo. It will have a hearing before the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works on Wednesday morning.
“I am totally opposed to any legislative effort to restart the Yucca Mountain project,” Sisolak said in a statement, referring to the proposed facility to store the nation’s nuclear waste is about 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas.
“My position, and that of the state of Nevada, remains identical to the position of Nevada’s past five governors: The state of Nevada opposes the project based on scientific, technical, and legal merits,” Sisolak said. “My staff and I, as well as Nevada’s congressional delegation, would be happy to meet with committee members to explore constructive alternatives to Yucca Mountain for our nation’s broken nuclear waste storage system.”
Members of Nevada’s congressional delegation have introduced legislation — the Nuclear Waste Informed Consent Act — that would require the Department of Energy to obtain approval from the state’s governor, as well impacted local governments and tribes, before money could be spent on a nuclear waste repository. All Democratic members of the state’s delegation have signed on to introduce the legislation.
Sisolak, in past remarks, has supported the Nuclear Waste Informed Consent Act.
