Shimkus to lead congressional visit to Yucca Mountain

House Environment and Economy Subcommittee Chairman John Shimkus (R-IL) will guide a bipartisan congressional visit Thursday to the nuclear waste repository at Nevada's Yucca Mountain.

In continuation of the committee’s senior oversight of the unfinished project, the visit is aimed at informing Congress of the necessity of implementing a long-term nuclear waste solution. Reps. Jerry McNerney (D-CA), Bob Latta (R-OH), Cresent Hardy (R-NV), Mark Amodei (R-NV), and Dan Newhouse (R-WA) will join Shimkus on this year’s tour.

“I’m excited to return to Yucca Mountain and show more of my colleagues this national asset – a geographically isolated permanent disposal facility. Seeing the site in person really adds some perspective to the debate as you appreciate just how remote the location is and just how much time and money has been poured into the project,” Shimkus said. “Our nation desperately needs to advance our nuclear waste strategy, and Yucca Mountain is a part of the solution. This journey back to the desert will help guide our work this Congress to put our nuclear future back on track. I’m hopeful that by working in partnership with Nevada we can find a workable path forward for Yucca.”

In October 2014, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission released Volume 3 of the Safety Evaluation Report, concluding that the Department of Energy's license application meets the long-term nuclear waste repository regulatory and safety requirements. The report said that Yucca Mountain would stay safe for one million years.