Reid says Yucca Mountain won’t be revived in his retirement

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., doesn’t expect to see nuclear waste stored at Yucca Mountain after he retires and leaves the Senate.

Reid, the Senate minority leader, has spent years using his position to prevent the mountain 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas from becoming a nuclear waste storage site. He’s retiring when his term ends after the November election.

“I can’t imagine Yucca Mountain’s going to come back,” he said in a meeting Tuesday with members of the Las Vegas Metro Chamber of Commerce in Washington, D.C. The group traveled to Washington to spend the week visiting the congressional delegation and learning about public policy issues.

Re-engaging with the mountain project would cost $100 billion, Reid said, adding that nothing is at the mountain.

“There’s nothing out there now,” he said, adding that some of the previous equipment was “ground up for junk.”

Reid said he recently lunched with former Vice President Al Gore and credited Gore with his success in stopping Yucca Mountain from going forward during the Clinton administration.

“It starts with Al Gore because he was my advocate with Bill Clinton,” Reid said.

Reid reflected briefly on Gore’s 2000 run for the White House and the contested outcome in Florida that resulted in the election going to the U.S. Supreme Court.

“He’s recovered from having won an election that was taken from him by the Supreme Court,” Reid said. “He got more votes than the other guy.”

Republican George W. Bush became president by winning a majority of votes in the Electoral College, while Gore won the popular vote.

Contact Ben Botkin at bbotkin@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2904. Find him on Twitter: @BenBotkin1