It gets worse because it is going to take years to get a permit to dispose of nuclear waste even if a place is found. Obama obviously put politics ahead of what is best for the Country in his effort to help Harry Reid get reelected. Has Obama ever put the good of the American people first?

Now we discover that closing the Yucca Mountains according to GAO was all political with no scientific reason for the closure -- typical Obama as he is always about politics at any cost. What harm can he do in the name of politics between now and January 2013? Frightening thoughts.

GAO accuses Obama WH of politics in Yucca Mountain closure

posted at 11:36 am on May 11, 2011 by Ed Morrissey

Quick — which presidential candidate pledged to restore science to its “rightful place” in government policy? If you’ve forgotten, well, so has Barack Obama and his administration, according to the GAO. The watchdog agency reports that the White House rushed to shut down the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste disposal facility for political rather than scientific considerations, and that Obama’s manipulation will cost taxpayers billions of dollars and set back the nuclear industry by decades:

The Obama administration’s rushed efforts to shut down Yucca Mountain were strictly political and could set back the opening of a nuclear waste repository by more than 20 years, according to a new report by a federal watchdog.
The administration killed the repository program last year without citing technical or safety issues, and restarting the costly and time-consuming process of finding a permanent repository or an alternative solution could take decades and cost billions of additional dollars, the Government Accountability Office reported yesterday. 

The Energy Department began pursuing a license for the Nevada site in 2008 but pulled support a year later when the Obama administration said it was not an attractive solution for storing nuclear waste in the United States. The administration then closed out funding for the site, eliminated jobs and contractor activities and disposed of Las Vegas properties associated with the project. 

“Several DOE officials told us that they had never seen such a large program with so much pressure to close down so quickly,” the report said in reference to the repository located about 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

What technical or scientific rationales did the White House use in this effort? Well … none, according to the GAO. The administration not only didn’t bother to explain why the site had to be closed so quickly, they never checked on the safety issues involved in the hasty shutdown of the facility. Instead, Energy Secretary Stephen Chu just declared that Yucca Mountain was not a “workable option” and demanded its closure.

Excerpt:  Read more from Ed Morrisey at Hot Air

How long until another site is ready?

GAO estimates that even if a decision on a new site was made today, the permit process for its use would keep it off line until 2045. It will take 34 years to get full approval on the next waste-disposal site, and that’s if the site avoids “cost delays” and “garners public acceptance.”

What do nuclear power plants do with their waste in the meantime?