Rep. Chris Cannon, R-Utah, says it is time to "close ranks" with the Nevada delegation, calling Yucca Mountain "a far worse solution, but better than a temporary solution in Utah."

"We should have had a united front (with Nevada) against the East Coast dumping its waste on the West," added Matheson, who opposed the Yucca Mountain project from the beginning. "We should reach out to Nevada and try to build the relationship."

Bishop also opposes Yucca Mountain and questions the wisdom of the senators' deal.

"Hindsight is always wonderful," he said. "At the time, the senators were doing what they thought was appropriate. And it may still turn out to be the right thing to do. But it has not been helpful yet."

Cannon said there really wasn't much the senators could do, that "we did see a better solution."

Bishop is frustrated by Reid and the Nevada delegation, which he believes worked behind the scenes last year to kill his wilderness bill to block PFS — even though the industry openly admits PFS is a precursor to Yucca Mountain.

"If that's the way he (Reid) is going to be, we need to be more creative and work around him," Bishop said. "He does not have dictatorial power, not yet. But it makes it harder if the Nevada delegation wants to play games like that."

Utah House members believe the fate of Yucca Mountain and PFS are tied together. The industry wants the PFS site as "temporary" storage — the lease with the Goshutes is up to 40 years — until it can be moved to permanent storage at Yucca Mountain. But everything points to the industry using both facilities.

Scores of regulatory and legal setbacks on the Yucca Mountain project have delayed the opening of that facility to 2012 at the earliest, and there is growing sentiment it might not open at all. The delays have made the need for temporary storage even more acute.

Matheson points out Yucca Mountain has a capacity of about 70,000 tons of nuclear waste. But the nation already has more waste than that at sites around the country. And with a renewed national emphasis on nuclear power, the waste problem is going to get progressively worse.

Matheson, Cannon and Bishop are all supporters of a change in national policy to allow the recycling of spent fuel rods (banned by presidential order in the 1970s) as Japan and Europe now do. They believe the remaining waste should be left where it is.

"We ought to be talking reprocessing in America," Cannon said. "That is the real solution to the transportation and storage problems."

Cannon expects there will be considerable congressional discussion over the issue of reprocessing, but he doubts it will happen in time to thwart PFS.

The reality is there is little support at this time in Congress for recycling, and there is no groundswell of opposition to the PFS proposal. The states with PFS member utilities are large and powerfully represented in Congress, and any attempt to block PFS legislatively faces an uphill battle.

Bishop's wilderness bill, with a few tweaks to mollify opponents, is probably the best chance, although the delegation hinted it has other ideas under wraps.

There is also an outside chance the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Bureau of Land Management could weigh in against PFS, but the delegation is not optimistic about that.

"We think we have some arrows in our quiver we can play around with," Bishop said. "We're not giving up on it."

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E-mail: spang@desnews.com