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Outgoing Energy Secy. Says Yucca Mountain Won't Happen

Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz says any effort to revive the long-dormant nuclear waste dump at Nevada's Yucca Mountain is doomed to fail because the project lacks support from elected officials in the state.

Moniz says a 30-year fight over where to store the country's nuclear waste has convinced him that "a consent-based approach is the only way we're going to get across the finish line."

Moniz says a 1980s law directing Congress to store waste at the planned site 100 miles from Las Vegas "hasn't worked" and can't work.

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President-elect Donald Trump hasn't indicated a clear position on Yucca. His transition team has asked the department whether there are any legal barriers to moving ahead with the project, which Nevada lawmakers strongly oppose.