Nevada senators want to ensure Yucca Mountain nuclear repository ‘remains dead’

U.S. Sens. Jacky Rosen and Catherine Cortez Masto want to ensure that Yucca Mountain, located about 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas, never serves as a nuclear waste dump site.

On Tuesday, the Nevada Democrats were set to reintroduce their Jobs, Not Waste Act, Rosen’s office announced.

If passed, the bill would repeal a provision of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 that established Yucca Mountain as the nation’s sole nuclear repository and revoke its licensing proceeding.

The bill also calls on the Department of Energy to reclaim and mitigate any adverse environmental impacts to the Yucca Mountain site as a result of its licensing review and asks the federal government to consider other uses for the site to help create jobs and stimulate the state’s economy, Rosen’s office said.

Five other states willing to store the nuclear waste

Rosen and Cortez Masto’s announcement arrived a week after the DOE revealed it had entered into preliminary agreements with Utah, Tennessee, Oklahoma, Louisiana and Idaho to potentially host Nuclear Lifecycle Innovation Campuses.

The proposed facilities, the DOE said, would be designed to support the full lifecycle of nuclear fuel, including its fabrication, enrichment and final disposition. The proposals, if they become a reality, could create nearly 25,000 jobs, generate up to $50 billion in capital investments and as much as $10 billion in tax revenues, the DOE added.

Nevada has long opposed using Yucca Mountain to store nuclear waste. Current elected officials — from Democratic members of the state’s congressional delegation to Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo — praised the DOE’s announcement.

“Nevadans have always been clear that we will not allow nuclear waste to be stored at Yucca Mountain – and that any proposal to establish a nuclear waste repository needs to be centered on the consent of the surrounding community,” Rosen said in a news release. “I’m encouraged by the recent proposal from the Trump Administration that acknowledges Yucca Mountain is not an option for nuclear waste storage, which is why I hope they will support this legislation to ensure Yucca remains dead.”

Last week, the Las Vegas Review-Journal asked the DOE what its announcement could mean for the future of Southern Nevada site.

“It is anticipated that changes to the Nuclear Waste Policy Act would be needed going forward, namely the Yucca Mountain exclusivity clause,” an agency spokesperson wrote in an email.

Similar legislation previously proposed

Rosen and Cortez Masto introduced a version of the Jobs, Not Waste Act in 2024, following similar efforts in 2018 and 2019.

Last year, they proposed the bicameral Nuclear Waste Informed Consent Act that requires input and consent from states, including its tribal and local officials, when a nuclear waste repository is considered for their jurisdictions.

Nevada’s Democratic House members introduced the companion legislation. Both congressional bills stalled in committee.

“Nevadans have been clear from the beginning that our state cannot and will not house the nation’s nuclear waste,” said Cortez Masto in a statement. “While I welcome the Trump administration’s recent move to leave the unworkable Yucca Mountain proposal behind, we cannot take anything for granted.”

She added: “It’s time to pass our Jobs, Not Waste Act to explore other uses for the Yucca site and allow states who want to store nuclear waste to do so.”

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.