The Yucca Mountain nuclear waste dump project in Nevada was strongly opposed by Republican presidential candidates on Tuesday.
The Obama administration announced it will not consider the site and is looking for alternatives, AP reports.
During Tuesday’s Republican presidential debate in Las Vegas, Ron Paul says the other 49 states don't have the right to "put our garbage in your state."
Paul went on to praise nuclear power as a form of energy but added that the government should not be involved in any energy subsidies.
Both former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and Texas Gov. Rick Perry were in agreement with the Texas Congressman.
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who came closest to endorsing the site, said there's a need "to have a safe method of taking care of nuclear waste,” reports AP.
“I’m not a scientist. I mean, Yucca Mountain was certainly picked by the scientific community as one of the safest places in the United States,” Gingrich said. “It has always had very deep opposition here in Nevada.”
“But we have to find some method of finding a very geologically stable place, and most geologists agree that Yucca Mountain is that,” he added, Politico reports.
The depository for the country's nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain is not open. The site is unpopular in Nevada, and its representatives in Congress have pushed to stop the project.
