Friday, Jan. 17, 2014 | 10:56 a.m.
CARSON CITY — This year’s federal spending bill includes no money for licensing a nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain, “maintaining the project’s status as terminated,” U.S. Sen. Harry Reid said.
The budget includes no new money for the Department of Energy to process the license application and no funds for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to consider and rule on the issue.
Robert Halstead, executive director of the Nevada Office for Nuclear Projects, said the DOE has $17 million to $30 million left in its budget to pursue the application. But the federal agency estimates it will need $100 million to go forward, he said.
The NRC, meanwhile, has $13 million to $17 million to conduct hearings and consider the licensing, a process that would cost some $1.6 billion, Halstead said.
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