Washington ? Democrats used their weekly radio address Saturday to lash out against the Bush administration’s plan to use Nevada’s Yucca Mountain as the repository for the nation’s nuclear waste.

“The state of Nevada has vetoed this plan, as is our state’s right, but now the president and the Republican leadership in Congress have indicated that they are going to move ahead with the plan anyway,” said Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev.

The Democrats’ decision to use their radio platform to press the issue the latest move in a furious campaign on both sides of the controversy appears to reflect the position of Democratic Party leaders, however, more than the anticipated votes of the party’s rank and file.

Nevada Gov. Kenny Guinn, a Republican, vetoed last month the federal plan to ship 77,000 tons of high-level nuclear waste from across the nation for storage at Yucca, about 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas and 215 miles northeast of Los Angeles.

A House committee last week voted 41 to 6 to override Guinn’s veto, and 17 Democrats voted with the majority. The six opposed were all Democrats. The House is expected to back the White House plan by a wide margin when it comes a vote, likely sometime this week .

Those opposed to the Yucca site believe their best chance for success lies in the Senate, where 51 votes to uphold Guinn’s veto would kill the plan. The Senate is expected to take up the matter in June or July.

President Bush in February signed off on the Yucca Mountain plan, saying it was “important for our national security and our energy future.” Yucca Mountain has been the only storage site considered since 1987. Under federal law, a simple majority of both houses of Congress is needed to overrule Guinn’s veto.

Those opposed to using Yucca Mountain warn that it sits in an earthquake zone.