Nuclear Waste Disposal: Alternatives to Yucca Mountain

Congress designated Yucca Mountain, NV, as the nation’s sole candidate site for a permanent high-level nuclear waste repository in 1987, following years of controversy over the site-selection process. Over the strenuous objections of the State of Nevada, the Department of Energy (DOE) submitted a license application for the proposed Yucca Mountain repository in June 2008 to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). During the 2008 election campaign, now-President Obama lent support to Nevada’s fight against the repository, contending in an issue statement that he and now-Vice President Biden “do not believe that Yucca Mountain is a suitable site.”