WASHINGTON — Congress and the Energy Department are still not quite sure how to deal with the temporary storage of nuclear waste, and details may be pushed off until after the August recess and possibly after the November mid-term election.

Any decision on interim storage could affect Private Fuel Storage's plan to store nuclear power plant waste on Goshute Indian land in Tooele County, and long-term plans to store waste at Nevada's Yucca Mountain could potentially bring hundreds of shipments of nuclear waste through Utah.

At a Senate Energy and Natural Resources hearing Thursday, the Energy Department's top Yucca Mountain project official, Edward Sproat, told members that without passage of a pending bill that makes several changes to nuclear-waste policy, there is no way the department can achieve its new goal of opening Yucca by 2017.

"The probability of making that schedule without this legislation is zero, that's how important it is," said Sproat, who has held his position a little more than a month.

But committee Chairman Pete Domenici, R-N.M., said the longer it takes Yucca to open, the longer the nuclear waste will stay onsite at commercial reactors all over the country because the department can ship only so much waste to Nevada at a time.

"May I repeat, for those who don't think we need to address temporary storage: If everything goes perfectly, it will take over 30 years, longer than I have been in the Senate, to eliminate the existing backlog of spent fuel," Domenici said. "In light of that, it only makes sense to look for additional ways for the government to meet its obligations."

The Senate has yet to act on the pending energy and water spending bill that contains $10 million to start a federal temporary storage program until Yucca opens. The Senate bill specifically disqualifies Utah from getting a federal site because Private Fuel Storage already has a license to store waste in Skull Valley. But the bill does not prohibit companies from using PFS instead of a government waste facility.

Utah and its congressional delegation have been fighting the PFS plan for years.

The House passed its version of the energy and water spending bill, which contained $30 million for the temporary storage of nuclear waste, saying the government could consider private sites as well as federal facilities to store it.

Once the Senate passes its bill, certain House members and senators will work together to iron out differences between the two.

Congress is about to go on its August recess, leaving legislative work behind for a month to head back to home districts to meet with constituents — or most likely to work on campaigns.