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US needs a nuclear waste repository

Trump administration should restart project abandoned by Obama

Former President Barack Obama’s scuttling of the all-of-the-above energy policy our nation needs included a move most people in the Midwest probably did not notice. Given Obama’s vendetta against fossil fuels, that is understandable.

But in 2010, Obama abandoned work on a proposed nuclear waste repository in Yucca Flats, Nevada. The project had been under way for many years.

Now, there are signs the Nuclear Regulatory Commission may take another look at the plan, which would provide a safe place at which spent radioactive fuel from nuclear power plants could be stored.

Such a repository is essential, and not just for the nuclear power industry. There are many other sources of radioactive waste.

Obama’s action to cancel the project was a serious error, and one that needs to be rectified by President Donald Trump. Nuclear power is almost certain to be part of our nation’s energy picture for the foreseeable future.

Having an appropriate repository for radioactive wastes is an obvious part of any realistic planning for the nation’s energy future.

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