SALT LAKE CITY?The sooner federal officials approve Yucca Mountain in Nevada as a permanent storage spot for nuclear waste, the sooner waste could leave Utah, say supporters of a plan to store high-level nuclear waste in Utah’s Skull Valley.

Not so fast, say opponents of the Skull Valley plan, who see Utah becoming a de-facto permanent storage dump and say the Nevada site is not a sure thing.

U.S. Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham on Thursday gave his approval to the Yucca Mountain site, 80 miles northwest of Las Vegas, as the country’s permanent nuclear waste storage site.

Government officials in Utah are adamantly opposed to the plan.