Democratic presidential hopeful Castro says country needs Yucca alternative, must re-commit to Paris

Democratic presidential hopeful Castro says country needs Yucca alternative, must re-commit to Paris climate deal during Las Vegas roundtable


Democratic presidential hopeful Julian Castro told a panel of conservationists and political activists Friday that he wouldn’t seek to reopen the shuttered nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain, adding to a growing list of Democratic contenders who have turned away from the project as a means to store high-level nuclear waste.

“I’m sure many of the other candidates are opposed to restarting that conversation,” Castro said. “Of course, we’re going to have to deal with the issue, the underlying issue of what you’re going to do with that nuclear waste, but I do think that there are better ways to approach it.”

The Trump Administration has tried multiple times to kickstart the facility through proposed budgets, though to no avail. There is, however, a contingent in Congress who have sought to reopen Yucca, and court filings revealed in January revealed the Department of Energy had secretly shipped plutonium to Nevada without first informing the state’s representatives.

Speaking to The Nevada Independent, Castro said he would like to see a process that accounts for communities that “may be interested in taking on that challenge.”.

Read more: https://thenevadaindependent.com/article/democratic-challenger-castro-says-country-needs-yucca-alternative-must-re-commit-to-paris-climate-deal-during-las-vegas-roundtable