Consideration of the technical feasibility of Yucca Mountain in Nevada as the site for a high-level nuclear<br/>waste repository has led to an intense debate regarding the economic, social, and political impacts of the<br/>repository.

Solving the United States&#39; high level nuclear waste<br/>disposal dilemma is vital to our energy independence and<br/>economic growth. The issue has been stalled for decades and<br/>presently faces enormous political obstacles despite renewed<br/>government effort to achieve a solution.

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).