Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump said Wednesday he would soon develop an opinion on whether Yucca Mountain should become a nuclear waste disposal site, but indicated he didn’t have a position yet.
Trump was asked about Yucca Mountain, which is 90 miles outside Las Vegas, in an interview with KSNV. The idea of turning it into a nuclear waste site is unpopular in Nevada, and President Obama blocked it during his first term.
“No. 1, you have to be concerned about safety,” Trump said in response to the question. “And, it’s a little bit close to a major population base so I’m gonna take a strong look at it and I’m going to come back very strongly one way or the other. I will have an opinion.”
Trump has been a proponent of nuclear energy in the past, though that advocacy has taken a back seat to his plans for increased fossil fuel usage that he’s promoted during the campaign.
The KSNV reporter asked Trump if he would support burying the nuclear waste underneath the wall he wants to build on the border between the United States and Mexico, to which Trump chuckled and said, “That’s your idea.” But he did promise to spend more time thinking about it.
“I came into town and everyone’s talking about it, so I’m going to take a strong look at it and next time you interview me we’ll talk about it for five minutes, OK?” he said.
