If a nuclear plant is built in Utah, there are no guarantees the electricity produced would stay in the state, although the radioactive waste likely would for 50 to 60 years.

The Springville Republican is CEO of Transition Power Development LLC, which is reviewing potential sites - he refused to say where - for a 1,500-megawatt nuclear power plant.

The plan is for TPD to get the license then sell it to a company that would build and operate the reactor, said Reed Searle, who is leaving his post as the head of the Intermountain Power Agency, a major coal power producer, to be Transition Power's director of strategic relations.

Tilton said it is too early to say where the plant would be located, who the potential buyer might be, and would not disclose who is providing financial backing for the company.

Getting a license from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission could cost $100 million. Building a power plant would cost as much as $3 billion, estimated David Hill, a nuclear researcher at the Idaho Nuclear Energy Lab.

Nils Diaz, a former Nuclear Regulatory Commission chairman who now is a policy advisor to Transition Power, told members of the Legislature's public utilities committee that if the plant becomes a reality, the radioactive spent fuel would be stashed in dry-cask, on-site storage for a half-century or more.

"It is an emotional issue," Diaz said of the waste storage. "It's very safe. It doesn't pose a risk to public health and safety."

The state spent nearly a decade fighting a proposal by Private Fuel Storage, a consortium of nuclear plant operators, to store waste from nuclear plants around the country on the Skull Valley Goshute Indian reservation. Diaz, as a member of the NRC, consistently sided with PFS.

PFS believes Utah should embrace nuclear power, said company spokeswoman Sue Martin.

"With the air quality issues that Utah experiences, Utah should be moving forward on nuclear power as quickly as possible," Martin said.

Tilton dismissed critics who have questioned his role in the trying to bring a nuclear power plant to Utah while advocating for nuclear energy in the Legislature. The criticism is "fairly predictable" but he has been up-front about his business dealings in the past and will be in the future, Tilton told fellow lawmakers.

He said there has been no legislation before the committee that would help his company and he disclosed his involvement in the company when he felt it was appropriate. The company was formed in February; Tilton filed a conflict of interest disclosure last week. When asked last month whether he had interest in nuclear development, he said he did not.

Tilton decided to declare a potential conflict after Transition Power signed a deal with the Kane County Water Conservancy District on Sept. 20 to secure the rights to 30,000 acre-feet of water per year to cool the nuclear reactor.

Rep. Mike Noel, head of the public utilities committee and executive director of the water district, said he asked outside counsel to review Tilton's proposal to buy the water, because he is a friend and colleague of Tilton's and a supporter of nuclear power.

"I'm totally clean on that," Noel said, adding he doesn't benefit in any way from the deal, either through the district or his private environmental consulting company.

The water will be drawn from Lake Powell and Noel hopes to use money from the sale to build the Lake Powell pipeline to move water from the lake to Washington, Kane and Iron counties.

Noel said the plant will not be built in Kane County.

Vanessa Pierce, director of the Healthy Environment Alliance of Utah, which opposes nuclear power, said Tilton has a clear conflict of interest.

"He is the CEO of a group that wants to build a nuclear power plant in Utah. He's chairing a committee considering legislation to promote nuclear power in Utah. How is this not a conflict of interest?"

None of the members on the legislative committee questioned Tilton's role in the company or whether there might be a conflict of interest. Noel joked that Sen. Mike Dmitrich, a Price Democrat and long-time Utah Power employee, might have to declare a conflict after singing the praises of coal power.

"I'll have Tilton do it for me," Dmitrich said, laughing.

* THE PROPOSAL: Erect a nuclear power plant in Utah.

* THE COST: $100 million to license, $3 billion to build.

* THE TENSION: Utah has fought a proposed high-level nuclear waste storage site on the Goshute reservation for 10 years. Waste from a power plant would stay on site for decades but there is no guarantee the power would be used in Utah.