LAS VEGAS " President Barack Obama is seeking to cut funding for the nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain by more than $90 million, dropping the project's budget to the lowest level ever, Nevada Sen. Harry Reid's office said Wednesday.
The president's proposed spending plan asks for $196.8 million for the dump under construction 90 miles outside Las Vegas, Reid spokesman Jon Summers said.
Summers said the budget also includes language affirming the administration's plans to kill the project and seek other options for handling the nation's nuclear waste. The budget will provide some funding for a blue ribbon commission formed to study alternatives.
The senator's office released a statement praising the Obama administration's "strong commitment to the death of the failed Yucca Mountain idea."
The Democrat and the rest of the Nevada delegation have long fought against storing 77,000 tons of the nation's highly radioactive waste in the desert mountain. In recent years Reid has successfully chipped away at project's budget, although the Bush administration supported its construction.
Earlier this year, House and Senate Democrats cut Yucca Mountain funding for the remainder of this fiscal year to $288 million.
Contractors on the project have since laid off dozens of workers and work has slowed dramatically.
However, Energy Secretary Steven Chu has said he does not plan to revoke an application to license Yucca Mountain for nuclear waste storage. Chu has said he believes completing the application process may have scientific value.
Reid's office said Obama's 2010 fiscal year budget expresses the department's intent to support the licensing process. It also increases federal funding for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which is reviewing the application. The $56 million for the commission is an increase over last year's allocation of roughly $50 million.
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