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WASHINGTON - The Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Friday authorized a license to build a private nuclear waste storage site on the Skull Valley Goshutes Indian Reservation.

Private Fuel Storage, a group of utilities, wants to store 44,000 tons of spent nuclear fuel at the site, 45 miles southwest of Salt Lake City.

In a meeting that lasted about two minutes, commissioners took a two-pronged vote. First, they affirmed an earlier ruling that containers for the waste wouldn't release an unacceptable amount of radiation if a jet fighter crashed into them. Then they authorized the NRC staff to issue a license to construct and operate the storage site.

The license will be ready after paperwork is completed, said NRC spokesman Eliot Brenner. The timing was not immediately clear.

"I'm very happy," said Paul Gaukler, an attorney who has represented Private Fuel Storage in its eight-year quest to build the waste facility. "People can be assured it's a safe facility. The issue has been fully aired and resolved. Thank goodness - finally."

Utah Sens. Orrin Hatch and Robert Bennett were not immediately available for comment, nor was anyone from the Utah governor's office in Salt Lake City immediately available.

Utah politicians have made numerous attempts to block construction of the storage site, including a last-minute unsuccessful attempt in July to amend the national energy bill to require a terrorism threat study before the NRC could grant a license. The effort failed when Nevada Sen. Harry Reid objected.

State officials have said they would fight the license in court if necessary.

An impoverished tribe, the Goshutes had been looking for ways to make money and eventually teamed with Private Fuel Storage to propose the station.

Private Fuel Storage's facility would be a temporary dump pending the opening of a national repository at Nevada's Yucca Mountain.