Renewable energy, not nuclear waste, could be the future for Yucca Mountain

LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5/AP) - Nevada legislators on Thursday debated a bill to ask Congress to consider Yucca Mountain the site for the generation of renewable energy - instead of the controversial, almost-dead nuclear waste facility project.

SJR 4, if passed, would urge Congress “to use Yucca Mountain for the development and storage of renewable energy,” including geothermal, solar, wind, carbon capture, hydroelectric and more.

It also mentions the possibility of a renewable energy storage lab or a strategic petroleum reserve. It highlights the potential to create jobs in manufacturing and energy in the Amargosa Valley and nearby communities.

The Biden Administration has opposed funding and continuing the project to store nuclear waste at Yucca, with Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm stating in a 2021 visit to Nevada that Yucca Mountain “will not be a storage place for nuclear waste.”

The history of the project has been mired in opposition since its conception in 1987. The proposed bill calls out that the State of Nevada was against the project considering the dangerous nature of radioactive waste and the harm it could cause.

It cites a 2021 US Accountability Office report that states, “Policymakers have been at an impasse over what to do with the spent fuel since the licensing of the Yucca Mountain repository stopped in 2010.”

There is roughly 89,000 metric tons of used commercial fuel at nearly 80 sites in 35 U.S. states, according to the Nuclear Energy Institute, the industry’s trade association. At 20 of the sites, there’s no longer an operating reactor.

Drawing from the report, the site is not socially or politically viable as an option and included opposition from several Native American tribes.

If passed, the bill would go into effect immediately, sending the resolution to Washington, D.C.

-This report includes material from the Associated Press.