Sen. Orrin Hatch and Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. have had secure briefings on the report's findings, but neither was able to discuss specifics from the meeting.

“I'm not going to talk about the report except to say that I believe there is language that would cause anybody concern,” Hatch said in an interview Friday. “I won't characterize it beyond that.”

Hatch pressed the security issues during a briefing by Deputy Homeland Security Secretary Michael P. Jackson in a secure room on the fourth floor of the Capitol on Thursday evening.

Hatch and Huntsman had urged Homeland Security to conduct the study in hopes that it might reveal security shortcomings or risks that could help to scuttle the plans by Private Fuel Storage, a group of electric companies, to store 44,000 tons of spent nuclear fuel rods on the Indian reservation in Utah's Skull Valley.

“[Governor Huntsman] was not surprised by the fact that the Department of Homeland Security agrees there are some issues that need to be addressed, as you might suspect,” said Huntsman's counsel, Mike Lee. There was some discussion about what could be done to mitigate the risks identified, but “that is cold comfort to the hundreds of thousands of Utahns who live immediately downwind from this site.”

The report is still in draft form, and Hatch was not given a copy. It is expected to remain classified in its final form and will likely not be released publicly, Hatch spokesman Peter Carr said. Lee said it is too early to tell how the report might help the state's case.

The Department of Homeland Security dispatched a team of experts to the state in August to review plans by Private Fuel Storage, specifically focusing on what sort of construction and response capabilities would need to be in place if the site is to be built and operated safely.

Homeland Security spokeswoman Michelle Petrovich said the report is nearly ready to be reviewed by Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff.

“This effort that we're working on in no way replaces or supersedes the regulatory authority of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission,” she said. “They will take any necessary actions under the law as it relates to this issue.”

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission heard numerous arguments from the state that the PFS site would pose an unacceptable security risk or terrorist target, but the NRC dismissed those claims before granting PFS a license in September to build the facility.

Hatch also released a letter Friday from Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman, in which Bodman assures the senator that the PFS facility is not part of the national nuclear storage strategy and it is prohibited by law from receiving federal funding.

“It's now very clear that the administration does not support the PFS plan and it will never be built,” Hatch said.

Bodman's assurance echoed a promise made by his predecessor, Spencer Abraham. PFS has, however, not sought federal funds. Bodman also reiterated his continued support for a permanent nuclear waste dump at Yucca Mountain, Nev.

“I believe that the development of Yucca Mountain as a permanent geologic repository for the nation's high-level radioactive waste will reduce, if not eliminate, the need for high-level radioactive waste to go to a private temporary storage facility in Utah,” Bodman wrote in his Oct. 26 letter.