The U.S. Court of Federal Claims ordered in January that the government pay $34.9 million to the Tennessee Valley Authority, the operator of two nuclear power plants in Alabama and Tennessee, for its failure to take the waste and to cover costs the company incurred when it had to find other ways to store waste that was not supposed to be there. The industry anticipates similar rulings down the road that could add up to billions of dollars of payments the government would owe to utilities — all using taxpayer dollars.

"One cannot alter what has transpired to date but the availability of a temporary storage site, if costs are reimbursed by the federal government, could stem claims for future damages related to the inability of the DOE to begin accepting spent fuel as of the contract date of Jan. 31, 1998," Parkyn wrote in his letter.

Costs could be reimbursed out of the Nuclear Waste Fund, an account paid into by nuclear power users to specifically pay for the Yucca project, but Congress would need to approve that change.

PFS proposed two legislative options for Congress to pursue until Yucca opens:

• A "DOE Take Title Alternative" in which the department would agree to take title to nuclear waste at power plants and become a Private Fuel Storage customer so it would transport and move the waste to Utah. The department would own the fuel as it sat in Utah until it would go to Nevada or another permanent federal storage site.

• A "Utility Retain Title Alternative" in which a utility would become a PFS customer and pay for the transportation and storage costs for moving waste to Utah, but the department would reimburse the companies for all costs associated with moving waste to PFS. Once the government finished Yucca or another federal site, the department would move the waste from Utah to that location.

Under either scenario, Parkyn believes either deal could satisfy the department's end of the bargain and avoid more lawsuits, ending the threat of using tax dollars for more settlements.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission officially issued PFS its license to open the temporary nuclear storage site last month after almost nine years of hearings.

PFS's license allows for 40,000 metric tons of waste to be stored in Utah for 20 years under a lease agreement with the Goshute's Skull Valley Band that could also be renewed at a later date. Parkyn said in the letter that PFS would cost $61 million a year to operate.

The letter, dated Dec. 13 of last year, went to Congress a week after the Supreme Court declined to consider Utah's case against the site and, at the same time, PFS investors put holds on future investments or pulled out of the project entirely.

The letter is just making its way to congressional offices now because all mail to the Capitol goes through a long security process.