(St. Paul, MN)  --  Opponents in a Minnesota Senate committee Thursday halted a bill that would have lifted Minnesota's ban on construction of new nuclear power plants.  Senator Amy Koch pulled her bill after an amendment was added which would lift the ban on new nuclear plants only when the federal government provides a place to store the nuclear waste, rather than in dry casks outside Prairie Island.  Rochester Senator Dave Senjem warns the action will choke off nuclear power development.  The federal government has been promising a national repository for nearly 20 years and plans for a site at Yucca Mountain, Nevada recently fell through.