Hatch proposed - and promptly withdrew - an amendment to the Energy Bill being debated in the Senate that would have prohibited storage or shipments of nuclear waste in a private facility away from the reactors that generated it.

Hatch's plan put forward the most direct legislative assault to date on the proposal by Private Fuel Storage, a consortium of electric companies, to store 44,000 tons of high-level waste on the Skull Valley Band of Goshutes Indian reservation in western Utah.

"A few nuclear power companies should not hijack our nation's nuclear waste strategy by building an off-site, above-ground storage site in Skull Valley," Hatch said on the floor of the Senate. "Is our nuclear waste policy going to be established by the federal government, or should that policy-making rest with a couple of private companies driven by profit?"

In a prepared response to Hatch's question, Senate Energy Committee Chairman Pete Domenici, R-N.M., said it is his belief that "our focus should remain on a solution that puts this waste directly in the hands of the federal government."

Domenici's statement does not change current policy, but Hatch's office hailed it as an endorsement by the Senate's undisputed leader on energy policy of keeping nuclear waste in government control.

"Chairman Domenici has committed to Senator Hatch to work toward a more aggressive federal oversight of spent nuclear fuel than he thinks might be possible in the current PFS proposal," said Energy Committee spokeswoman Marnie Funk. "He remains committed to federal controls as seen in Yucca Mountain or a federal interim storage site. He has pledged to work with Senator Hatch toward that goal."

She would not elaborate on what additional federal oversight or control might be envisioned.

The Hatch amendment, cosponsored by Sen. Bob Bennett, R-Utah, would prohibit depositing any spent nuclear fuel in a facility not owned by the federal government, or shipping it to such a site.

It also would bar the government from studying any such plans.

Hatch withdrew the amendment, which likely would have been voted down, but it could be turned into a separate bill or added to future legislation.

"It seems like something that would not only affect our project but would really potentially tie the hands of all the utilities," said PFS spokeswoman Sue Martin. "Clearly the intent is to stop our project - to stop something that is legal and has been going through an approved regulatory process for the last eight years."

The Hatch proposal also directs the Energy Department to study interim storage of nuclear waste at DOE facilities or the nuclear reactors, and mandates a study of reprocessing the waste for re-use in reactors.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is in the final stages of considering PFS' license application. A final decision is expected later this summer. Preliminary decisions by the NRC and Atomic Safety and Licensing Board have gone against the state, and NRC staff has argued in favor of the license.