Yucca Mountain: Obama Budget Takes Another Whack at Storage Site

Mr. Obama aims to cut funding for the planned repository in Nevada to $197 million, a cut of about $90 million, Mr. Reid’s office announced Wednesday in a statement. The proposed cutback is a reaffirmation of Mr. Obama’s “strong commitment to the death of the failed Yucca Mountain idea,” Sen. Reid said. The repository has long been opposed by Nevada’s political establishment.

“The termination language in its plan could not be any clearer–Yucca is history,” Mr. Reid said.

The administration’s budget blueprint, released in February, called for essentially killing Yucca Mountain, by reducing funding only to the level needed to field questions from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which is still considering an application for the project submitted by the Bush administration. Until now, it wasn’t clear exactly how much money the Obama administration would seek to support the application.

Wall Street Journal