"Safety is Senator Bennett's primary concern," spokeswoman Mary Jane Collipriest has said. "He's contacted the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the state of Utah, who are currently assessing whether this material can be handled safely by a commercial facility. The senator is awaiting the results of this review before proceeding further but remains committed to public safety over economic advantages."

A vote by the House Appropriations Committee is expected this week, after which the appropriations act moves to the Senate.

Complicating the issue is a plan to transfer regulatory oversight of uranium mill tailings from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission to the state. But that won't likely happen until March, long after Congress has decided whether to allow commercial waste companies to bid on the tailings.

The state has been seeking primacy over uranium mill tailings so that all tailing disposal, as well as recycling of tailings at uranium mills, would fall under state regulatory oversight instead of the federal government.

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