However, on June 8, 2001, Nevada Governor Kenny Guinn signed SB 372, at the time the country's most aggressive renewable portfolio standard.

The law requires that 15 percent of all electricity generated in Nevada be derived from new renewables by the year 2013.

[1] Coal was the main source for electricity in Nevada until it was surpassed by natural gas in 2005, which has generated more than half since then.

The repository lies within Yucca Mountain, a ridge line in the south-central part of the U.S. state of Nevada.

The ridge is composed of volcanic material (mostly tuff) ejected from a now-extinct caldera-forming supervolcano.