The Utah senator was in St. George on Friday where he revealed draft legislation that he plans to introduce in the Senate. The proposed legislation spells out conditions that must be met before research and testing could begin.

The Nevada Test Site is where above-ground weapons testing ended in 1962, and underground testing was halted 30 years later.

The bill is similar to one introduced in the House earlier this year by Utah Rep. Jim Matheson, whose district encompasses areas of southern Utah - home to residents known as "downwinders." They believe fallout from tests at the Nevada center, about 180 miles southwest of St. George, is responsible for increased cancer-mortality rates.

Bennett said while there are no plans now for a resumption of research or testing, unforeseen circumstances in a world where nuclear weapons are possessed or coveted by countries hostile to the United States could materialize, making the test site again viable to national security.

The senator said that he has resisted calls to dismantle the country's nuclear weapons program or to cut funding for testing, because of the deterrent factor provided by a viable nuclear arsenal.

"I'm not pro-testing. I'm anti-nuclear-ignorance," said Bennett.

Vanessa Pierce, program coordinator for Salt Lake City-based Healthy Environment Alliance of Utah and the Downwinders Opposed to Nuclear Testing, said Bennett's proposed bill may slow the process, but does not stop future testing.

She said her group would like to see the senator use his power as a member of the Senate's Energy and Water Appropriations subcommittee to stop research and development for current and future nuclear weapons and programs.

"We want to drive home the point that Bennett can stop testing in one fell swoop by cutting funding for new weapons," said Pierce. "Instead, he has proposed legislation that deals with monitoring - after a test has occurred.

Michelle Pierce, a downwinder who attended Friday's news conference, was a child in the early 1950s when above-ground nuclear tests were conducted.

She said Bennett is heading in the right direction, but that the legislation does not alleviate the fears people in southern Utah harbor about nuclear tests.

"I didn't feel any safer when I left [the news conference] than when I went in," said Thomas. "It was the same rhetoric used during the Cold War to justify testing, just pull out the Soviet Union and insert, Iran or Iraq or North Korea."