COLUMBIA, South Carolina, April 12, 2002 (ENS) - The Department of Energy intends to dispose of 34 metric tons of weapons grade plutonium by the end of 2019, through the conversion of the material to a mixed-oxide fuel (MOX) for use in commercial nuclear power reactors. But these plans have hit a snag in the office of South Carolina Governor Jim Hodges.

Governor Jim Hodges of South Carolina (Photo courtesy Office of the Governor)

But Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham Thursday threatened to transport the plutonium into South Carolina without the governor's agreement.

He wants the highly radioactive material to be shipped to the federal nuclear processing facility known as the Savannah River Site. It is on the Savannah River at the Georgia border, and is close to several major cities, including Augusta and Savannah, Georgia as well as Columbia, Greenville, and Charleston, South Carolina.

The weapons usable plutonium is now located at Rocky Flats, Colorado, which the federal government is legally bound to close in 2006, at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, California, and at the PANTEX Facility in Amarillo, Texas.

The shipments and construction of a MOX production facility are necessary for two reasons - first, to fulfill a U.S. plutonium disposition agreement with Russia, and also to meet the closure date of 2006 for the DOE’s Rocky Flats Facility where nuclear weapons were produced for nearly 50 years.

The Energy Department intends to construct two major facilities at the federal Savannah River Site: the nation's first MOX Fuel Fabrication Facility (FFF), to be in operation by July 2007, and a Pit Disassembly and Conversion Facility, to be in operation by October 2009. Pits are the classified components at the core of nuclear weapons.

Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham at his desk (Photo courtesy Office of the Secretary)

Abraham's proposal includes a "firm commitment to fully fund and carry out this program" at the project cost of $3.8 billion over 20 years, and establishment of annual funding targets.

The energy secretary offered, "A commitment to maintain a pathway out of South Carolina for any plutonium brought into the state, including firm dates by which such material would be removed from the state if, for any reason, full funding necessary for the plutonium disposition program were not secured."

If the governor cannot accept those assurances by Monday, Abraham wrote, he will revoke them and "direct issuance of the requisite a 30 day notice of our intent to begin shipping."

Jay Reiff, spokesman for Governor Hodges, says the governor's position on the plutonium issue has never changed. He wants a legally enforceable agreement in the form of a consent decree filed in federal court, or he wants the federal government to hold off on the plutonium transport until the newly offered legislation is enacted.

"The governor wants to support the legislative process," Reiff said, "but the problem is that the Department of Energy wants to start shipping plutonium here before that legislation is passed and gets the presidential signature. That's like moving your furniture into a house before you go to closing."

Abraham said, "We have gone to extraordinary lengths to accommodate South Carolina’s concerns.”

MOX nuclear fuel assembly at Cogema's Melox plant in France. The state owned company has been fabricating MOX fuel assemblies for nuclear power plants since 1995. (Photo courtesy Cogema)

"This is not about this governor or this secretary or energy," Reiff explained. "This is about whoever is going to be governor of South Carolina 10 years down the road. Governor Hodges wants to give that governor the ability to have some leverage to make sure that plutonium leaves the state in a timely manner. If we don't have a legally enforceable agreement, South Carolina simply has no leverage to do that."

Secretary Abraham offered that if unforeseen technical, fiscal, international, legal or other circumstances preclude completion of the MOX FFF, the Energy Department would package the plutonium and remove it from the state.

Sunset at the Savannah River Site (Photo courtesy DOE)

If such legislation is not enacted by October 15, 2002, DOE will halt plutonium shipments and the parties will immediately consult to determine an alternative path forward, the secretary wrote in his letter to Governor Hodges.

But the governor wants a consent order in federal court or legislation in place before the shipments begin. Reiff says, "Our track record with the Department of Energy is such that promises aren't enough. We want to make sure that promises are kept."

"Our experience here with the plutonium issue is that plans within the last two years have already changed, and this process could take 10 or 15 years. What the governor wants to be assured that future governors have a legal remedy that's enforceable if funding or timelines or even the whole program is scrapped, that South Carolina doesn't end up holding the plutonium bag."

If the DOE attempts to force plutonium shipments into South Carolina before a legally binding agreeement is in place, Reiff says any truck carrying the plutonium would be turned around at the border and would not be permited to enter the state.just begun to tap," said Gawell.