Obama may end Yucca Mountain fight

WASHINGTON, March 4 (UPI) -- U.S. President Barack Obama's proposed budget cuts off funding for the controversial Yucca Mountain nuclear repository, observers say.

The Washington Post reported Wednesday that the president's proposal could end the decades-long controversy over the proposed nuclear waste dump site.

The newspaper noted that during the presidential campaign, Obama said he was opposed to the project, which would provide a resting ground for a large portion of the nation's radioactive waste.

"Yucca Mountain is not an option, and the budget clearly reflects that," U.S. Department of Energy spokeswoman Stephanie Mueller.

The Post said Obama's budge proposal does not say where the White House would like to store about 57,700 tons of nuclear waste at more than 100 temporary sites across the country, or with the approximately 2,000 tons generated each year by nuclear power plants.

"The new administration is starting the process of finding a new strategy for nuclear waste," Mueller said.