Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah and Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada are both committed to keeping nuclear waste from being dumped in their state. But Hatch remains unwilling to join forces with his colleague, fearing it might actually hurt Utah's cause.

Reid argues the nuclear waste should be stored at the reactors that produce it until technology is available to recycle the material. That course would make proposed waste sites in Yucca Mountain, Nev., or on the Skull Valley Goshute Indian reservation in Utah unnecessary.

But Hatch says it could be counterproductive to join that cause.

"Some have said I should join with Senator Reid in a West-wide movement against Yucca Mountain," Hatch said in a recent interview. But, aside from the Nevada delegation, he said Western members support burying the waste at Yucca Mountain.

"We've made a lot of headway with the White House, the Department of Energy, the Department of Interior, in Congress," he said. "If we join Senator Reid at this time in an anti-Yucca Mountain stance, that would alienate some of those who are best positioned to help us."

Ideally, Hatch has said it would be best to leave the nuclear waste where it is, rather than shipping 44,000 tons of it to Utah, as Private Fuel Storage, a group of electric utilities, proposes. He offered an amendment to the Senate Energy Bill, which he later withdrew, that would have required storage at the reactor sites, and he also supports finding ways to recycle and reuse the waste.

But his refusal to buck the Bush administration and oppose Yucca Mountain is drawing criticism from some.

"I think it is extremely foolish and shortsighted for Senator Hatch to pursue the path he's been going down," said Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev. "The only way we're going to stop nuclear waste from coming to Utah or Nevada is for both states to work together toward one common goal and that is keeping the waste where it is and finding alternate disposal technology."

Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. and Democratic U.S. Rep. Jim Matheson have embraced Reid's proposal, and last week Utah Republican Congressman Rob Bishop voiced his support for Reid's plan for the first time after the Nuclear Regulatory Commission voted to approve a license for the Private Fuel Storage site.

"I've been critical of Senator Reid in the past for not necessarily helping us with this particular issue. But at the same time, you have to give him credit. When he talked about storage on site and recycling, that really is the long-term solution for everyone," Bishop said. "It probably is time to see if I can be helpful in moving his ideas forward. He may have been ahead of the time when he said it."

Utah Republican Rep. Chris Cannon also is warming to the idea, said his chief of staff, Joe Hunter. He does not support ditching Yucca Mountain, Hunter said, "but he's certainly there when it comes to finding better things to do with this stuff than shipping it out West. He is much closer to Senator Reid's position than most of the delegation was a year ago."

Sen. Bob Bennett, R-Utah, says the approach he and Hatch are taking remains the best strategy for keeping the waste out of Utah, since the alternatives are politically unrealistic.

"As we seek resolution to the challenge of storage of the nation's nuclear waste, I remain in favor of storing it on site at the facilities where it is produced," Bennett said in a statement. "But because that option does not appear to be legally or politically viable, I believe the administration's policy to store the waste in a facility 2,000 feet below ground in the Nevada desert remains the best alternative. Should a politically viable alternative emerge, I will be willing to consider it."

Reid laid out his on-site storage plan earlier this year, but has not introduced legislation to implement the idea. Berkley introduced legislation in the House in February to require on-site storage and shift the money allocated to preparing the Yucca Mountain site into reprocessing technology, but its prospects for passage are slim.

Republican state Rep. Steve Urquhart of St. George decided to challenge Hatch for the party's nomination based mainly on the incumbent's nuclear-waste stance.

Urquhart says it is flawed logic for Hatch to continue to support Yucca Mountain, because it also means supporting the notion that the nuclear waste should be moved. If the waste is shipped, Urquhart says, it won't go to Yucca Mountain, which is years behind schedule and mired in a legal and regulatory morass. It will come to Skull Valley.

"The argument should be it shouldn't move. It should stay where it is until we come up with a permanent solution," said Urquhart. "[Hatch should] admit that [he's] wrong. Admit that [he] should've got behind keeping it on site and not change. I think he's willing to gamble with the state's fortune just for his own election."

There has been tension between Reid and the Utah Republicans since Hatch and Bennett voted in 2002 to back the Bush administration's plan to permanently store the nuclear waste in Yucca Mountain. Since then, Reid has been accused by the Utahns of spitefully scuttling legislative attempts to try to block the Skull Valley project.

"Senator Reid is a good friend of mine," Hatch said, "but he has shown that he doesn't have Utah's best interests in mind."

The recent morning the NRC approved the Private Fuel Storage license, however, Reid was among the first to issue a statement, saying it would be just as dangerous to ship the waste to Utah as it would be to send it to Nevada. He again called for the waste to stay where it is.

Given his choices, Berkley says, Hatch is kidding himself if he thinks he can count on the White House to stop the Private Fuel Storage plan.

"He's inhaling the nuke waste fumes, I'm afraid," she said. "The only way he's going to protect the health and safety of his own constituents is stand with the Nevada delegation and the people of the state of Nevada. And Utah and Nevada will be much stronger working together."