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U.S. NEWS Saturday 6 april 2019

South Carolina: Nevada push to move plutonium repeats risks

By SCOTT SONNER
Associated Press
RENO, Nev. (AP) — Ne-
vada’s demand for the
U.S. government to remove
weapons-grade plutonium
that was secretly trucked
to a site north of Las Ve-
gas last year contradicts its
claim that moving radioac-
tive material is dangerous,
according to lawyers for
South Carolina, where the
shipment originated.
South Carolina and the
U.S. Energy Department
filed their first responses this
week to Nevada’s legal
challenge in the 9th U.S.
Circuit Court of Appeals.
Nevada appealed after a
federal judge in Reno re-
fused to temporarily ban
any more shipments to the
state.
The Trump administration
has promised no more plu-
tonium will be transported
to Nevada from the Savan-
nah River Site in South Car- In this Nov., 20, 2013, file photo, radioactive waste, sealed in large stainless steel canisters, are stored under a five-feet of concrete
olina or any other nuclear in a storage building at the Savannah River Site near Aiken, S.C.
facility. But government at- Associated Press
torneys say the courts have (2,204 pounds) of the ma- plutonium here is being um in a different form. The office was still reviewing the
no legal power to undo the terial from the Savannah repurposed for weapons government disclosed in latest documents and had
shipment that’s already River Site by Jan. 1, 2020. production,” government its filing that the plutonium no immediate comment.
been made. The Energy Department lawyers wrote. shipped to Nevada was in U.S. Judge Miranda Du
South Carolina says mov- unsuccessfully appealed Nevada’s concerns that solid metal form and lacks in Reno denied a motion
ing the plutonium from the the December 2016 order, the shipping containers the same concerns. seeking to block any ship-
Nevada National Secu- arguing that removing the may experience corrosion Monica Moazez, spokes- ments pending the ap-
rity Site would “repeat the plutonium by the deadline and are unsafe for stor- woman for Nevada’s at- peal. She said the matter
risks of effects that Nevada was “simply impossible” if it age come from an earlier torney general, said in an was moot because the plu-
claimed in district court also complied with environ- federal declaration, which email to The Associated tonium already had been
would cause it irreparable mental laws. discussed handling plutoni- Press late Thursday that the shipped.q
harm.” Nevada’s lawyers said
“The public’s interest does that months later, “the im-
not favor unnecessary possible happened” and
shipments of defense plu- the Department of Energy
tonium over the nation’s completed an analysis de-
highways,” South Carolina claring the Nevada site a
Attorney General Alan Wil- prime candidate for indefi-
son wrote in a brief filed nitely housing the material.
Monday. “DOE’s previous capacity,
“The plutonium is currently safety, security and surveil-
stored in a safe, secure en- lance concerns magically
vironment at NNSS, which disappeared,” Nevada
is more than equipped for said in its appeal.
this task — as it has done The government’s new fil-
for decades. The pluto- ing says Nevada took those
nium should remain there comments out of context.
until (the U.S. is) prepared It says references to po-
to transfer it to its ultimate tential radiation exposure
home in New Mexico,” the and difficulty meeting the
document says. 2020 deadline were tied to
The shipment of one-half an initial plan to dilute the
metric ton (1,102 pounds) plutonium into waste — a
of plutonium — which was process known as “down
kept secret until January blending” — for disposal.
— was part of the govern- “The weapons-useable plu-
ment’s effort to comply with tonium at issue here is not
an earlier court order to re- being ‘down blended’ or
move at least a metric ton turned into waste. ... The