Reid, Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., and Bennett, along with Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, Rep. Chris Cannon, R-Utah, Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah, and Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., introduced the Federal Accountability for Nuclear Waste Storage Act of 2007 in the House and Senate to keep nuclear waste at nuclear power facilities versus moving it to Nevada.

"I have long opposed this seriously flawed scheme to put the country's hottest nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain," Matheson said in a statement. "Transporting it through Utah's cities, towns and communities is unacceptable. Instead, I believe the federal government should not waste any more time on the Yucca repository and should instead consider interim on-site storage, as my legislation has proposed."

Edward F. Sproat, manager of the Yucca project, confirmed that the department now believes it may be 2020 before the waste site can be opened, assuming the NRC grants a license and Congress provides the project the money it needs to continue.

The site was supposed to open in 1998, but a series of legal, political and scientific controversies kept it from moving forward.

Yucca's delay forced Utah to fight its own battle over nuclear waste with the planned temporary storage site at the Goshute Indian Reservation in Tooele County. Private Fuel Storage, a consortium of companies looking for a place to store waste until the Nevada site opened, got a license from the NRC for temporary storage on the Goshute reservation. But the government voided the lease and did not give a right of way to land needed for a transportation hub, stopping the project.

President Bush and Congress gave Yucca the green light six year years ago. The Energy Department estimates the lifetime cost of the facility will be between $70 billion and $80 billion and about $6 billion has been spent so far.

This year Congress provided $386.5 million for the program, $108 million less than the Bush administration had wanted as it geared up for submitting its application for a construction license. In 2007 the project received $444 million.

Reid and other Nevada officials say the waste ought to stay where it is until the best long-term solution for dealing with it can be determined.

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Contributing: Associated Press

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E-mail: suzanne@desnews.com