Illinois, Nevada Continue Struggle over Nuclear Waste Storage

摘要

The U.S. Department of Energy decided in 1987 that the best place to put the waste is inside a mountain in the Nevada desert, about 100 miles from Las Vegas. But that project - the Yucca Mountain Nuclear Waste Repository - has been tied up in permitting red-tape and politics, as Nevada's elected leaders have aimed to protect their state from catastrophe if something goes wrong. Pressured by powerful then-U.S. Sen. Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat, the Obama administration stopped funding for the Yucca Mountain project's license in 2010.