Yucca Mountain Dispute: Sandvoal Calls Plan 'Irresponsible'

Governor Sandoval slammed a proposal by the Trump Administration to store nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain as "ill-conceived, irresponsible, and likely illegal." His comments came after testimony in Congress by Energy Secretary Rick Perry.

While Perry cited what he called "a moral and national security obligation" to do just that, Sandoval said the Energy Secretary was doubling down "on his desire to make Nevada the nation's nuclear dumping ground."

Perry was appearing before a House Appropriations subcommittee to argue for his department's budget, which includes $120 million to restart the licensing process for the Yucca Mountain site.

The site was selected by Congress in 1987 to be the nation's sole depository for high-level nuclear waste, something the state has fought ever since.

"Today’s comments by Secretary Perry suggesting he would consider storage of high-level nuclear waste at the Nevada National Security Site come as a complete blindside and I view this as a total disregard and failure to honor the historical process," Sandoval said. (Subscribe to local news alerts on Patch)

"The idea of storing high-level nuclear waste at the National Security Site is ill-conceived, irresponsible, and likely illegal."

The licensing process was halted by the Obama administration in 2010 in response to requests from Nevada. The site currently is just a tunnel that was dug an initial exploration to see if a larger site would be possible.

Perry says that it's crucial to not store waste at the sites of plants could leads to a major disaster.

Sandoval says that Nevada disagrees.

"Let me be clear, no part of Nevada will be home to the world’s most toxic waste and we will fight every effort that puts our citizens at risk," he said.

WATCH PERRY'S TESTIMONY