The Fall of the Yucca Mountain Repository

This chapter chronicles DOE's fading Yucca Mountain Project between 1979 and 2020. It considers how the two remaining foundational bargains were broken—Nevada's futile attempt to mount an objection to the choice of the Yucca Mountain site and the collection of a fee in exchange for a date-certain to accept the nuclear utilities' SNF for disposal. It also briefly details the effectiveness of that state's technical, legal, regulatory, and political opposition. The chapter describes how both regulators crafted Yucca Mountain-specific rules and how those protocols were challenged in court. Two unrelated events—Nevada Senator Harry Reid's rise to power and Nevada's early-scheduled presidential primary—placed the Yucca Mountain Project in political peril and ultimately led to its demise.