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Reid's Retirement May Reopen Yucca Mountain Case

With Democratic U.S. Senator Harry Reid retiring, his hobbyhorse of Yucca Mountain may be back on the table.

Bloomberg reports advisers to President-elect Donald Trump are floating using the Nevada site as a nuclear waste depository once he takes office.

Reid has long since fought against using Nevada as the country's nuclear waste site, but Republicans may see an opening in relaunching the project with Reid's retirement.

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Yucca Mountain was first named as the country's preferred site for nuclear waste back in 1987, but Reid and other lawmakers, along with a lot of red tape, have stopped the project from going forward since.

But, it's doubtful whether other Democrats in Congress will fight as vociferously against Yucca as Reid has.

During her election campaign, Democrat Catherine Cortez Masto – who won Reid's seat – declared the project dead for as long as she was in office.

Casey Morell is the coordinating producer of Nevada Public Radio's flagship broadcast State of Nevada and one of the station's midday newscast announcers. (He's also been interviewed by Jimmy Fallon, whatever that's worth.)