Waste no one wants: lawmakers must overcome the 'not in my backyard' mentality to find a site for the nation's nuclear waste.

• Author: Meehan, Katie
• Position: NUCLEAR WASTE

Fifteen billion dollars were invested and a 5-mile tunnel was built in preparation for Yucca Mountain in Nevada to serve as a deep geological repository, designed to receive and store shipments of spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste. But the project in Nevada has lain dormant since the Obama administration stopped funding the licensing process in 2010. The facility has never received any waste.

But that may be changing.

President Donald Trump and the House Committee on Energy and Commerce have been clear they want to reconsider the Nevada site. In his first initial budget proposal, Trump designated $120 million to restart licensing activities for the permanent and interim storage of waste at Yucca Mountain, although Congress ultimately will determine what happens.

Then in March, the state of Texas sued several federal agencies claiming the federal government had violated the Nuclear Waste Policy Act by failing to complete the licensing process at Yucca Mountain.

There was, and continues to be, significant support for using Yucca Mountain to store our nuclear waste. Support comes especially from states currently housing some of the waste and from small communities near the site hungry for new jobs.

Resistance as Well as Support

There is also substantial resistance. Generally speaking, Nevadans don't want nuclear waste stored at Yucca Mountain and they never have. The latest survey, conducted in January by the Mellman Group, showed 58 percent oppose and 33 percent support full development, according to the Nevada Independent.

Governor Brian Sandoval (R) responded to this renewed federal interest by joining with all legislative leaders in warning that, "Any attempt to resurrect this ill-conceived project will be met with relentless opposition, and maximum resources."

"I am disappointed that the Trump administration is arrogantly choosing to ignore the fact that Nevadans don't want dangerous nuclear waste dumped on our state," Senate Majority Leader Aaron Ford (D) said.

Assemblyman Chris Brooks (D) wasted no time after Trump announced his budget proposal to introduce a resolution calling on U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry to find Yucca Mountain unsuitable for storing nuclear waste and to explore alternative strategies for dealing with radioactive waste.

"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.

"Politicians from outside Nevada have tried for 30 years to dump their waste into our beautiful state," said Senate Minority Leader Michael Roberson (R). "Their attempts to 'screw Nevada' have consistently failed, and I am confident they will continue to fail."

With this kind of opposition from state government as well as ordinary Nevadans, the Timbisha Shoshone Tribe and environmentalists, winning approval...