WASHINGTON -- The proposed Yucca Mountain nuclear waste dump is going more rapidly nowhere at all, as Sen. Harry Reid is seeing to it that it receives the smallest budget in its decades-long history.

The Obama administration's budget plans for the upcoming fiscal year released yesterday "follow through on its commitment to end the failed Yucca Mountain proposal and instead pursue other alternatives for storage of the nation's nuclear waste," according to a release from Reid's office.

The proposed budget figure of $197 million marks a reduction of more than $90 million from last year's.

The money will be spent on the blue ribbon commission examining alternative options and on phasing out work on the project in preparation for its final shutdown.

"Today's budget announcement by the Obama administration reaffirms its strong commitment to the death of the failed Yucca Mountain idea," Reid said in a prepared statement. "The termination language in its plan could not be any clearer -- Yucca is history.

"The record-low budget for Yucca is only enough to maintain the site until it's closed, and the people if Nevada can feel safe and secure in the knowledge that we will never be this country's toxic dumping ground."

At the same time, Nevada Republican Congressman Dean Heller, in his position as policy chairman of the Western Caucus, inserted provisions to keep the Yucca Mountain out of the Republican comprehensive energy bill, the American Energy Innovation Act.

Heller brought conservatives and western members together to promote a comprehensive energy strategy while ensuring Nevada does not become the "nation's nuclear waste dump," Heller's office said in a Thursday release.

"Our nation needs a comprehensive energy plan that promotes conservation, renewable energy development and access to our own natural resources," said Heller. "We need energy legislation that will create jobs and ensure long-term energy security for our country.

"This can be achieved without dumping our nation's nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain."

Heller said the fact that different factions of the GOP can be brought together in this regard "should take partisanship out of the Yucca Mountain debate."

Heller's staff said exclusion of the Yucca Mountain project from the Republican energy bill is "a significant victory for the state of Nevada.