The U.S. House of Representatives voted down two proposals to prevent development of the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository in Nevada.
Rep. Dina Titus (D-Nev.) proposed two amendments. The first -- rejected in a 96-326 vote – would have cut a section of the bill preventing the use of funds to remove the possibility that Yucca Mountain could be used as a repository, according to The Hill. A second amendment – defeated in a 75-344 vote – would have eliminated all $150 million allocated for nuclear waste disposal and divert the funds instead toward the national deficit.
Those who voted against the amendments said it would be a waste of money to abandon the site and that the government should continue investing in a waste repository at Yucca Mountain, the article said.
The U.S. Department of Energy was ordered in May to stop collecting a fee going toward the non-existent waste site. As of May, the fund held $37 billion. President Obama withdrew the license application for the site and the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has not completed a safety review.
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