Sen. John McCain said Thursday he was angry that Arizona electricity customers have paid well over millions for a permanent disposal site for nuclear waste but have nothing to show for it.

President Barack Obama's administration this year scrapped long-standing plans to develop a permanent nuclear-waste repository under Yucca Mountain in Nevada, so power plants like Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station are left to store their waste on site.

The Department of Energy is obligated to eventually take the spent fuel from nuclear plants, but without Yucca Mountain it could be years before an alternative is even proposed, let alone developed.

"I think it's a big problem," McCain said when asked about the cut funding for Yucca Mountain during a campaign stop at Palo Verde.

The Republican senator blamed the decision entirely upon the influence of Sen. Harry Reid, who represents Nevada and leads the Democrats in the Senate.

"I was absolutely opposed to its closure," McCain said. "It's absolutely ridiculous to not have Yucca Mountain after (developing it over) a 20-year process."

McCain is running for re-election and faces a primary challenge from J.D. Hayworth, a former Arizona congressman and radio host and another Republican. Four Democrats and two minor-party candidates also are running for his seat.

Customers from Arizona Public Service Co. and Salt River Project have paid $258 million to the Nuclear Waste Fund, and billions has been spent researching and developing Yucca Mountain.

Meanwhile, utility customers still are paying to store waste on site at the nation's 104 nuclear reactors, including Palo Verde.

Utility industry groups have sued to stop the payments that companies like APS and SRP make to the fund because there is no plan to deal with the waste.

At Palo Verde, after the fuel has been used in the reactors, it spends at least seven years cooling in one of the plant's large pools. Then it is moved to steel and concrete cylinders that stand about 18 feet tall and are placed on a concrete pad outside of the reactors.

The dry-storage area at Palo Verde is large enough to hold all the fuel that will be used for the initial 40-year license of each reactor and could be expanded to hold fuel from the next 20-year relicensing.

If the U.S. recycled the uranium fuel rods, the plant would have about one-fourth the waste to store on site, Chief Nuclear Officer Randy Edington said.

The concrete containers are good for at least 120 years, if not longer, Edington said, although they were not initially planned to be kept on site that long.

McCain said that lawmakers can help the nuclear industry by streamlining the licensing process, lifting the current ban on recycling the spent fuel, which is done in France, Japan and Great Britain, and by settling on a location for a permanent waste repository.

"I hope this puts pressure on the (Obama) administration for recycling and storage," he said.

McCain likely chose to speak at Palo Verde because APS, which co-owns the plant with six other utilities, including SRP, is likely to try and build a new nuclear plant sometime soon.

The company forecasts it will need a new baseload power plant by about 2020.

Baseload power plants, like nuclear facilities, are important because they run all day and night, and are difficult to replace with variable power sources such as solar plants.

"We're basically looking at nuclear for that option," said Don Brandt, president/CEO of Pinnacle West Capital Corp., which owns APS.

The company ruled out a new coal-fired power plant because of the greenhouse-gas emissions from burning coal that contribute to climate change and the likelihood that those emissions will soon be taxed.

Brandt said APS has a number of sites it would consider for a new nuclear plant in Arizona, but is not moving ahead with plans to build one because the company wants to see what happens with other utilities now going through that process.

"We don't want to be in the first wave," Brandt said. "We have the benefit of having some time."

One of the companies moving ahead with new nuclear reactors is Georgia Power, which is developing two new reactors in that state.

Brandt said APS will watch that process closely.

He said the investment community would not react well if Pinnacle West were to move ahead too soon on a new nuclear facility.

"Today the reaction would be negative," Brandt said. "All the pieces are not together. A lot has to happen."

Reach the reporter at ryan.randazzo@arizonarepublic.com.