Sen. Heller urges Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee not to fund Yucca Mountain

U.S. Sen. Dean Heller (R-NV) sent a letter Tuesday to the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee urging them not to fund the Trump Administration’s request for $120 million to restart the licensing process for the Yucca Mountain Nuclear Waste Repository.

“I firmly believe consent-based siting presents a viable path forward on this issue and a means of addressing our nation’s high-level nuclear waste problem while at the same time respecting the sovereignty of states to object to becoming dumping sites,” Heller said. “The proposed high-level nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain presents a very different path, however. Indeed, this project represents the exact opposite of consent; it is a unilaterally imposed federal mandate that runs contrary to the will of the people that it directly affects.”

In the letter to Chair Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) and Ranking Member Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Heller wrote that Yucca Mountain poses health and safety risks to the people of southern Nevada and financial risks to the state’s tourism economy. He called for procedural safeguards, like local hearings and local adjudication, as well as safety and security measures as recommended by the National Academy of Sciences and the Blue Ribbon Commission.

“I intend to follow up with DOE on these and other issues to ensure that if the Yucca Mountain proposal moves forward over the objections of Nevadans and Nevada, basic procedural and safety measures are not also forgotten,” Heller said.

Heller authored the Nuclear Waste Informed Consent Act, which would allow the construction of a nuclear waste repository only if the Secretary of Energy receives written consent from the governor of the host state, affected local officials and affected Indian tribes.

“I will continue to stand with the State of Nevada in its staunch opposition to any effort to restart the repository licensing process,” Heller said. “I strongly urge you not to fund the Administration’s request, and I once again encourage you to devote resources toward DOE’s consent-based siting initiative for the storage and disposal of high-level nuclear waste.”