Democratic hopeful O'Rourke says he won't look to fund Yucca Mountain facility

Democratic presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke said during a campaign swing through Las Vegas this weekend that if elected he would not look to fund or reopen the shuttered nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain, a rebuke of efforts by the Trump Administration to kickstart the mothballed facility over the last two years.

O’Rourke, a former Texas congressman, made the comment during an interview sandwiched between two campaign events late Sunday morning. In between bites of a bagel and lox, O’Rourke told The Nevada Independent he was “really disappointed” in a move by the Trump Administration to transfer plutonium to the state late last year without first notifying representatives.

“I think beyond the concern in this state, I’m concerned about the other states and communities through which this waste will pass if it is transported here in the future,” he said.

But O’Rourke did not provide a clear answer when pressed on where that waste should go if not to Nevada, saying he was “confident in a country this size” that there would be a place that fits the bill.

Read more: https://thenevadaindependent.com/article/democratic-hopeful-orourke-says-he-wont-look-to-fund-yucca-mountain-facility