The Yucca Mountain Nuclear Waste Repository was to be a deep geological repository storage facility for spent nuclear reactor fuel and other high level radioactive waste, until the project was defunded by Nevada Senator and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid in 2010. It was to be located on federal land adjacent to the Nevada Test Site in Nye County, Nevada, about 80 mi (130 km) northwest of the Las Vegas Valley. The proposed repository was within Yucca Mountain, a ridge line in the south-central part of Nevada near its border with California.
Although the location has been highly contested by both environmentalists and non-local residents in Las Vegas, which is over 100 miles (160 km) away, it was approved in 2002 by the United States Congress. However, under the Obama Administration funding for development of Yucca Mountain waste site was terminated effective via amendment to the Department of Defense and Full-Year Continuing Appropriations Act, passed by Congress on April 14, 2011. The US GAO stated that the closure was for political, not technical or safety reasons. This leaves United States civilians without any long term storage site for high level radioactive waste, currently stored on-site at various nuclear facilities around the country, although the United States government can dispose of its waste at WIPP, in rooms 2,150 feet (660 m) underground. The Department of Energy is reviewing other options for a high level waste repository. The Blue Ribbon Commission established by the Secretary of Energy released its final report on January 26, 2012. It expressed urgency to find a consolidated, geological repository, but also that any future facility should have input from the citizens around it.
Read more about Yucca Mountain Nuclear Waste Repository: Background, The Facility, Opposition, Geology, Transportation of Waste, Cultural Impact, Cancellation of Project
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