Las Vegas Sun

April 23, 2024

Trump budget would restart licensing of Yucca Mountain

Yucca Mountain

Isaac Brekken / AP

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

RENO — Gov. Steve Sisolak and Nevada members of Congress are vowing to fight to block President Donald Trump's request to restart the federal licensing process to build a nuclear waste dump in the state.

Trump included a request for $116 million today for the Yucca Mountain repository in his proposed budget for the Department of Energy next year.

Sisolak said it's another example of the U.S. government "ignoring the will of Nevadans by attempting to shove even more unwanted toxic material down our throats."

In addition to opposing the waste repository near Las Vegas, the state is involved in a legal battled aimed at blocking DOE for shipping weapons-grade plutonium to a site near Yucca Mountain.

Democratic Reps. Dina Titus and Steven Horsford also vowed to fight any attempt to build the dump.