OLYMPIA - Gov. Chris Gregoire said Monday that she's willing to hear more about any proposal to recycle spent nuclear fuel at Hanford but has concerns about importing new waste for a mission that could compete for federal environmental cleanup dollars for the site.

Last week the federal government announced Hanford is one of 11 sites that will be considered for a facility that would reprocess nuclear fuel assemblies for re-use as part of the Bush administration's Global Nuclear Energy Partnership.

A separate power plant to demonstrate the use of recycled fuel also could be a part of any project.

Gregoire said she is aware of the effort but not in great detail.

"I'm this familiar," she said, holding her thumb and index finger barely apart. "My No. 1 priority is cleanup. So if this is an effort that will lead to diminished dollars going to cleanup, then I will have a severe problem with it. If on the other hand it's not going to take away - and someone needs to prove that to me - then I'm open to looking at it."

Gregoire said she's long envisioned the economic future of the Tri-Cities to include using Hanford-area brain power to find new ways to put various wastes to good use.

But importing nuclear waste from out-of-state commercial nuclear power plants may be another matter.

"I have a history as attorney general of opposing that until we get the place cleaned up," Gregoire said. "I am open to learning more about it because I'm not absolutely clear with what's being proposed here. But priority No. 1 for me is always going to be cleanup rather than to invite more waste to clean up."