CARSON CITY — Nevada may know by the end of this year whether the federal government will restart hearings on licensing a nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain.
Robert Halstead, director of the Nevada Agency for Nuclear Projects, told a legislative budget subcommittee today that Congress may include $100 million in its proposed budget in April to resume the application for Yucca Mountain.
Nevada has been fighting since 1982 to keep the waste dump out of the state. There are five lawsuits challenging any decision to put the repository in Nye County.
Former President Barack Obama did not include any money in his budgets for the licensing of Yucca Mountain. It is not clear what President Donald Trump will do.
If Congress decides to start funding the licensing, Nevada will need an annual $8 million to $10 million to fight the issue, officials said.