WASHINGTON (AP) — Energy Secretary Rick Perry is defending the Trump administration's plans to collect and store nuclear waste from around the country in a site northwest of Las Vegas.

Perry told a House Appropriations subcommittee Tuesday that the alternative was leaving spent nuclear fuel at sites in more than three dozen states.

Perry says leaving the hazardous nuclear waste scattered around the country "is not an appropriate solution."

The Trump administration is seeking $116 million in this year's budget on the effort, including restarting the licensing process for a permanent repository for high-level nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain in Nevada.

Opposition from Nevada previously has helped put the plan on a back-burner. The Trump administration has revived the Yucca Mountain plan.