The Coalition of Northeastern Governors sent Domenici, R-N.M., a letter last week arguing that storing waste in as many as 31 states would be more expensive and less secure than a plan to bury it permanently at Yucca Mountain, Nev.

But Domenici argued that Yucca Mountain, which is 19 years behind schedule, won't open until 2017 and it will take another 23 years to move existing waste to the site. There needs to be, he wrote in a letter to the governors, a practical interim solution.

"I am interested in a solution that will keep the Yucca Mountain project moving, but also acknowledges the need to safely deal with spent fuel until the project is completed," he wrote.

Interim storage would also give the Energy Department time to develop technology to recycle nuclear waste, reducing the amount of waste that will have to be buried at Yucca Mountain, Domenici wrote.

Domenici's proposal, backed by Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Sen. Bob Bennett, R-Utah, is included in an energy spending bill pending in the Senate. It would create temporary storage sites, but would require that the waste stay in states that generate nuclear power. Regional sites are also on option under the plan.

The plan also prohibits storage in Nevada or Utah, which would scuttle plans by Private Fuel Storage to park 44,000 tons of spent nuclear fuel on the Skull Valley Goshute Indian Reservation, about 50 miles from Salt Lake City.

The Northeastern states are the largest consumers of nuclear generated power. For example, nuclear reactors produce more than 70 percent of the electricity in Vermont, and more than half in New Jersey.