Domenici also has a plan in a pending energy-spending bill that would create temporary storage sites in each state with a nuclear-power plant, to store waste away from the reactors until Yucca Mountain would open.

The senator's spokeswoman, Marnie Funk, said the bill introduced Wednesday aims to create discussion on the topic. Hearings and other action will not come until the next Congress, but the temporary storage-site plan is still in play.

Meanwhile, the Nuclear Energy Institute — the nuclear industry's lobbying organization — has its own proposal that started circulating on Capitol Hill late last week. The group wants the government to give $25 million a year to Nevada or any other state that is approved to host an interim storage site. The payment would rise to $50 million a year once the site received its first shipment of waste. The proposal still needs a sponsor in Congress and would also not likely be acted on until next year.

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