South Carolina Losing Fight Against Nuke Shipments

By Cat Lazaroff

RICHMOND, Virginia, June 21, 2002 (ENS) - A federal appeals court has denied South Carolina Governor Jim Hodges' request to bar plutonium shipments from other states, dealing another blow to the state's suit against plans to send tons of surplus nuclear materials to South Carolina for reprocessing. The court agreed to fast track Hodge's appeal, but the Energy Department has said the shipments could begin as early as Saturday.

On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Cameron Currie ordered Governor Hodges not to block plutonium shipments using state troopers or other means. Hodges sent troopers to the state's borders last week after Judge Currie threw out his lawsuit challenging the legality of the planned shipments, but withdrew them Tuesday after Currie ruled those efforts unconstitutional.

Local officials trained by the DOE inspect the loading of spent nuclear fuel onto a tractor trailer along the route to the Savannah River Site. (Photo courtesy NEI)

The Department of Energy (DOE) plans to send 34 metric tons of plutonium from three former nuclear weapons facilities to the Savannah River Site for conversion into fuel for nuclear reactors. The plan is crucial to the DOE's ongoing cleanup of the obsolete weapons sites, and is part of an agreement with Russia to reduce stockpiles of weapons grade nuclear materials.

Hodges vowed to appeal Currie's decision, saying he is "not willing to let the federal government turn our state into the nation's nuclear dumping ground."

His request for an injunction against the shipments until his appeal can be heard was denied Thursday by the U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond. The DOE issued a statement saying it was "gratified" by the decision, but would not comment on whether plutonium shipments would begin this Saturday, the earliest date the agency said it could begin transferring about six metric tons of plutonium from the Rocky Flats facility in Colorado.

The DOE is working to meet a 2006 deadline for permanently closing the Colorado facility.

Morton Brilliant, spokesperson for Governor Hodges, argued after the appeal court decision that the DOE should wait to see the outcome of Hodge's case. "It would be a real mistake to send plutonium here, if three weeks from now they'd be ordered to take the plutonium back out," Brilliant said.

The appeals court has agreed to an expedited schedule for hearing Hodges case, with arguments set to begin on July 10.

Governor Jim Hodges of South Carolina lost the first sortie in his legal battle to block plutonium shipments to his state. (Photo courtesy Office of the Governor)

Hodges is concerned that problems with the DOE's plans to reprocess the plutonium could result in the indefinite storage of tons of nuclear material in South Carolina. The DOE has said it would remove the plutonium if it cannot be turned into mixed oxide (MOX) fuel for reactors, but so far Hodges has not been convinced that the agency's pledge is enforceable.

The DOE is required to dispose of the plutonium under a 1996 pact with Russia. The two nations agreed to each remove 34 tons of surplus plutonium from their stockpiles and turn into a form that cannot be used in weapons.

The DOE initially proposed to immobilize much of the material in a special glass and place it in permanent storage, and turn the rest into MOX fuel for use in specially altered nuclear reactors. But the Bush administration rejected the immobilization method, deciding to turn all 34 tons of plutonium into MOX.

The McGuire Nuclear Power Plant in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina is one of two operated by Duke Energy that could be converted to burn MOX fuel. (Photo courtesy Nuclear Regulatory Commission)

"While shipments of plutonium to [Savannah River] may go forward, that does not mean that the plutonium disposition program is also moving forward, " said Tom Clements, of the Greenpeace International Nuclear Campaign. "It does appear that Governor Hodges has it right - that plutonium shipped from Rocky Flats could end up being stored at [Savannah River] for the long term in a building not designed for that mission."

Clements pointed out that the U.S. and Russia are required to carry out their plutonium disposition programs in parallel, meaning the U.S. cannot proceed with plans to process plutonium unless Russia does as well. But the Russian program lacks funding, and there is no current plan for a MOX processing plant in Russia, or for reactors capable of burning MOX fuel.

At the annual meeting of G-8 foreign ministers in Canada last week, funding for the Russian plutonium disposition program was postponed for another year. The issue is likely to be taken up at the G-8 heads of government meeting at the end of June in Alberta, but the Russian MOX program is currently on hold.

"The chronic delay in the Russian program means that the U.S. program will soon grind to a halt," said Clements. "The ongoing funding and technical problems which surround the Russian program could well mean that plutonium will end up being stored indefinitely at the Savannah River Site."

The U.S. program also faces a host of funding and licensing questions that could derail the program, including concerns about the safety of plutonium transports and storage casks.

"Creation of a plutonium fuel infrastructure in the U.S. and Russia opens up more pathways for theft and diversion of weapons grade plutonium," Clements warned. "The cheapest, most secure and safest disposition option remains immobilization of plutonium in high level waste."

Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham at his desk. (Photo courtesy Department of Energy)

"America's national security and the security and safety of South Carolina citizens is well served by ensuring the plutonium arrives safely, without interruption, at the Savannah River site," Abraham said this week.