White House Proposes Decentralised Nuclear Waste Storage
New plan seeks to replace Yucca Mountain with 'innovation campuses' in willing states, promising economic growth.
Image: Eddie Pollard / AI
Carla Rooney
The White House is proposing a significant shift in federal law, aiming to allow willing states to store the nation's nuclear waste.
Designated in 1987 as the nation's sole permanent nuclear waste repository, Yucca Mountain never saw completion; the project received no nuclear waste.
The Trump administration proposed scrapping Yucca Mountain's singular role, advocating instead for partnerships with states willing to store radioactive material.
This administration claims the new approach boosts economies in participating states, directly linking nuclear waste storage to local economic revitalization.
These campuses could attract private industry, the White House claims, with advanced reactors, data centers, and manufacturing facilities representing key targets.
The administration emphasizes these campuses as crucial for economic growth, promising job creation and advancements in civilian nuclear energy.
These campuses will be massive generators of economic growth, create thousands of high-paying jobs, and be crucial to unleashing America’s nuclear renaissance.
Chris Wright confirmed the economic impact, stating, "These campuses will be massive generators of economic growth, create thousands of high-paying jobs, and be crucial to unleashing America’s nuclear renaissance."
The Department of Energy projects the proposed innovation campuses could attract up to $50 billion in capital investment.
Furthermore, these innovation campuses could generate as much as $10 billion in state and local tax revenue, promising to create nearly 25,000 jobs.
States submitted their responses by April 1, 2026, outlining their proposals; the competition for these federal investments is now underway.
Utah has proposed building its campus in Tooele County, where operations could encompass uranium enrichment, fuel production, spent-fuel reprocessing, and nuclear waste disposal.
Tennessee pitches Oak Ridge, a site steeped in nuclear history, which houses the Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the Y-12 National Security Complex.
Louisiana offered several possible locations, spanning across the northern, central, and southern parts of the state.
Oklahoma has not yet selected a specific site; the state will begin consulting communities interested in hosting the campus.
Nearly 105,000 tons of nuclear waste have accumulated across the US, a long-standing challenge.