ANS Nuclear Policy Wire February 23, 2018

February 23, 2018

Mountain Men Congress might be out of session this week, but the primary races are heating up. One race of interest to nuclear types might be the June 12 Nevada GOP primary, where Danny Tarkanian will be challenging Senator Dean Heller (R-NV).   Tarkanian has already sought to differentiate himself from Heller on Yucca Mountain.  Heller's position on Yucca Mountain is well-known and consistent: he most recently vowed to make sure the project "doesn't see the light of day."   In contrast, Tarkanian believes that Yucca should become "a reprocessing facility for nuclear spent fuel, rather than a repository" as it would "solve the problem of storing the nuclear spent fuel" and "be a great economic boon to the state of Nevada."    The winner of the primary will likely face Congresswoman Jackie Rosen (D-NV) in the November general election. Rosen is also running for Heller's Senate seat and holds a similar position to Heller on Yucca Mountain: "Fighting the resurrection of Yucca Mountain for nuclear waste storage was a priority for me as a candidate...It's a priority for me now that I'm serving in Congress, and it will continue to be a major priority for me as Nevada's next Senator."