WASHINGTON - President Clinton fulfilled a promise Tuesday and vetoed legislation that would have cleared the way for thousands of tons of highly radioactive nuclear waste to be shipped to Yucca Mountain in Nevada.
Nevada lawmakers and national environmental groups hailed the anticipated action, which blocked transportation of 40,000 tons of the lethal material that has piled up at commercial reactors in 31 states. Ultimately, more than 77,000 metric tons would have been stored at the site 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas.
''This legislation that the Republican majority in Congress has been trying to force down the throats of the American people not only jeopardizes the health and safety of every Nevadan, but puts millions of other Americans at risk,'' said Sen. Richard Bryan, D-Nev.
But Sen. Frank Murkowski, R-Alaska and head of the Energy and Resources Committee, criticized the president for leaving unresolved where the nation will permanently store its nuclear waste, which remains lethal for 10,000 years.
''It is wrong for the environment, it is wrong for our energy policy, it is wrong for the economy and it is wrong for national security,'' Murkowski said of the veto. ''It is irresponsible to let this situation continue - it is a crime against our future.''
He and other supporters of the legislation vowed to try to override the veto, beginning in the Senate. The timing will be crucial because the margin is so close. A vote probably won't occur this week because two Republicans are traveling, said Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho.
Neither the House nor Senate approved the measure by the two-thirds majority needed to override a veto. The House approved it 252-167 and the Senate 64-34.
Craig said if override efforts fail, federal officials will have to work with states to decide how to store the accumulating waste from plants that generate 21 percent of the nation's power.
Bryan and Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., expect ''relentless'' legislative efforts to store waste at Yucca Mountain. They prefer storing the waste at scores of locations across the country in containers that Reid said would be safe for 100 years, when science might find a better solution.
Clinton had promised not to sign the bill, but his veto did not include a criticism of the Yucca Mountain site. He criticized the bill for postponing the Environmental Protection Agency's authority to set radiation standards at the site for a year, until mid-2001, which would delay the Energy Department's recommendation about the site's suitability.
''Unfortunately, the bill passed by the Congress will do nothing to advance the scientific program at Yucca Mountain or promote public confidence in the decision of whether or not to recommend the site for a repository in 2001,'' Clinton said.
Energy Secretary Bill Richardson deflected questions about where the administration would store the waste without a central repository. The administration will focus first on sustaining the veto, he said.
''In the Congress, Republicans rejected that and tried to stuff down Nevada's throats legislation that is not scientifically based, that is politically based,'' he said.
The legislation would have required used nuclear fuel begin to be shipped to Nevada in 2007, once the Nuclear Regulatory Commission approves a license for a permanent waste site in the state.
The NRC is expected to decide as early as 2006 whether the Yucca Mountain underground nuclear waste repository should be licensed. Now under scientific review, the site is proposed for opening in 2010.
In an attempt to win broader support, the bill's sponsors deleted provisions that would require creation of a temporary waste storage site and require that the federal government immediately take title of the waste now held by electric utilities.
But Nevadans continue to oppose any legislation that would bring nuclear waste to the Silver State. Environmental groups including the Public Interest Research Group and the Sierra Club argued against hauling the waste along rails and highways to a central repository.
''President Clinton is taking decisive action to prevent a mobile Chernobyl here at home,'' said Michael Mariotte, executive director of the Nuclear Information and Resource Service in Washington.
Congress has struggled for six years over how to deal with the buildup of used reactor fuel now mostly held in water pools at 71 reactor sites around the country. Some utilities complain they are running out of storage room and point out that electric customers have paid $14 billion as part of their bills to create a permanent storage facility.