White House Drafts Plan to Scrap Yucca Mountain for State-Led Nuclear Waste Campuses

Key points

• The White House is pushing Congress to amend federal laws that currently restrict nuclear waste disposal exclusively to Yucca Mountain in Nevada.
• The proposed legislation would authorize the Department of Energy to select sites in 'willing states' for new campuses that handle fuel production, recycling, and waste disposition.
• The plan includes revamping Nuclear Regulatory Commission waste classification rules and reinstating a fee on nuclear generation for waste disposal, which was previously halted by courts.
• In exchange for hosting these facilities, states could attract new businesses, including nuclear power plants and energy-intensive data centers.
• Energy Secretary Chris Wright stated that 28 states have responded to the department's request for such campuses, with Utah and Tennessee submitting specific proposals involving waste storage and reprocessing.
• The Department of Energy expects to announce site selections later in the summer of 2026.

Background

This development follows a long-standing failure to resolve nuclear waste storage since Congress defunded the Yucca Mountain project in 2012. Recent archive coverage highlights broader tensions in US nuclear policy, including stalled US-Saudi enrichment agreements and debates over reprocessing safeguards. The current proposal represents a shift from a single federal repository to a decentralized, state-partnership model, reflecting growing bipartisan interest in reprocessing spent fuel despite concerns from some lawmakers about long-term storage needs.

Why it matters

The success of this legislative push is critical to the administration's broader energy strategy. Without a viable waste disposal solution, the goal of significantly expanding nuclear power capacity faces a major regulatory and logistical bottleneck. The shift to state-led campuses could accelerate infrastructure development but may also fragment regulatory oversight and raise questions about equitable distribution of nuclear risks and benefits across different regions.

What to watch

Congress must decide whether to approve the requested legal changes to allow the Department of Energy to proceed with state partnerships. The Department of Energy is expected to announce its selected site partners later in the summer of 2026. Industry officials and lawmakers will continue to debate the safety and economic implications of reprocessing and the new waste classification system.