WASHINGTON -- The nuclear industry has launched advertisements urging Congress to pass a "Fix Yucca Mountain" bill amid signs such legislation probably is too late for this year.

The Nuclear Energy Institute is running full-page ads this week and next week in four publications read widely on Capitol Hill. The ads call on lawmakers "to get this project done and secure our energy future."

"Congress approved a site for this facility in 2002 but the government is already 8 years behind schedule in accepting used nuclear fuel," the industry said.

Yucca Mountain, 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas, was chosen for a nuclear waste repository, but management problems, funding shortfalls and legal challenges have stymied the effort. The state of Nevada and environmental groups insist the site is not safe.

"The message is we would like Congress in what little time it has left to get serious about fixing the Yucca Mountain program," said Scott Peterson, communications vice president for the nuclear trade association.

The NEI ads are running in Roll Call, The Hill, National Journal and Congress Daily. Peterson declined to say how much they cost.

A Yucca Mountain bill urged by the Energy Department in April has been a nonstarter in Congress, which is scheduled to recess in only three weeks so lawmakers can go home to campaign. Lawmakers expect to return for a post-election session.

Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., the chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, said this week he intends to introduce a new Yucca bill "later this month" but for discussion only.

"Obviously, with less than a month before we recess, I don't expect to pass the bill this year, but I hope to get useful input from my Senate colleagues, the House and other interested parties," Domenici said in a statement.

"Yucca Mountain is a complicated issue that evokes strong, diverse opinions. That's why I'm introducing a bill in the 109th Congress that I will seek to pass in the 110th Congress," Domenici said.

Domenici has said he will take parts of the Bush administration bill that he likes but he has not said which ones.

Peterson said NEI is "realistic" about chances to get a bill passed in the fall.

"We would like to be pushing forward to making something happen but we recognize it might roll over into the next Congress," he said.

The NEI ads are scheduled to run next week when at least four House and Senate committees have scheduled hearings to assess where things stand on nuclear waste policies, including Yucca Mountain and fuel reprocessing.

"There are a lot of people out there who realize Yucca Mountain is dying," said Jon Summers, a spokesman for Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev. "These are all last-gasp efforts to try to save it and try to figure out what to do."