It is scheduled to open in 2010 and hold 77,000 tons (70,000 metric tonnes) of radioactive material that the Environmental Protection Agency says must be isolated for 10,000 years.

But Nevada officials said they would continue the court fight against the project - which could mean more delays for a nuclear waste proposal which is backed by both President George W. Bush and the nuclear industry.

"The U.S. Senate vote today is the beginning of Nevada's legal and regulatory fight to stop the Yucca Mountain project," said Nevada Gov. Kenny Guinn, who vetoed the original proposal, in a statement.

"Now, the process moves to the federal courts, where the playing field is level and Nevada's factual and scientific arguments will be heard by impartial judges."

Nevada has already filed suits in federal court to try to stop the dump from being built at Yucca Mountain, and will now argue to the NRC that the mountain is an unsafe site for nuclear waste, despite administration claims to the contrary.

In Las Vegas, just 95 miles (150 km) from the proposed facility, officials said the federal government was ignoring the safety concerns of the region's 1.4 million people.

"The fight won't be over today, even if there is a vote in favor of it," said Elaine Sanchez, a spokeswoman for Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman, who was in Washingtthis week for last-ditch lobbying against the project.

"We will have our day in court," Sanchez said. "It's only a matter of time before there's an accident transporting nuclear waste. It'll be a moving target for terrorists. The world has changed and these things need to be considered."

Opinion polls have shown that most Nevadans are not willing to gamble on nuclear safety so close to home.

A poll earlier this year conducted by Mason-Dixon Polling & Research Inc. of Washington, D.C. for the Las Vegas Review-Journal, shows that 83 percent of Nevadans oppose the Yucca Mountain site, although 68 percent said they believed it was inevitable that the program would be approved.

One Nevadan who did not oppose the project was former Nevada Gov. Bob List, who represents the Nuclear Energy Institute.

List said that Nevada would have to learn to live with the prospect of a huge nuclear dump in its backyard. "We really need to start accepting the reality of the situation and figure out ways to turn this to Nevada's economic advantage - and there will be economic advantages for Las Vegas," he told KLAS television over the weekend.

TRUCKS, TRAINS AND NUCLEAR WASTE

The U.S. Department of Energy's plan is to entomb 77 thousand tonnes of nuclear waste beneath the volcanic ridge northwest of Las Vegas, where it will remain for 10,000 years.

The highly radioactive material will be shipped from the nation's nuclear power plants, by rail or truck, to Yucca Mountain. The proposed routes cross 43 states and potentially pass some 109 cities with populations of at least 100,000 people.

Las Vegas Mayor Goodman, who has vocally opposed the Yucca Mountain dump, said transportation was a major concern following the Sept. 11 attacks. "Even the Nuclear Regulatory Commission believes a terrorist attack on America's nuclear power plants are a real threat," he said this week.

Jack Fetters, a conductor for Union Pacific Railroad and a representative of the United Transportation Union, told Reuters that conductors and engineers are nervous about moving the waste by rail.

"Workers aren't looking forward to it," Fetters said. "As far as science goes, I know nothing about that. What I do know is you've got conductor and engineer fatigue, and maintenance of the cars and rails issues. I mean, you don't just put it on a train and start sending it from Maine to Nevada."