WASHINGTON — For two decades, a ridge of volcanic rock 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas known as Yucca Mountain has been the sole focus of government plans to store highly radioactive nuclear waste. Not anymore.
Despite the $13.5 billion that has been spent on the project, the Obama administration says it’s going in a different direction. It slashed funding for Yucca Mountain in its budget proposal.
And on Thursday, Energy Secretary Steven Chu said at a Senate hearing that the site no longer was viewed as an option for storing reactor waste, brushing aside criticism from GOP lawmakers, including Sen. John McCain, who cast the change as a reflection of administration opposition to nuclear energy. Instead, Chu said, the Obama administration thinks the nearly 60,000 tons of used reactor fuel can remain at nuclear power plants while a new, comprehensive plan for waste disposal is developed. The Associated Press
