Plutonium
Appeal Headed To Court
Paraphrased
by Steve Waldrop
July 10, 2002
Columbia-
After losing a federal court fight to block plutonium shipments to the Savannah
River Site in Aiken South Carolina, Governor Jim Hodges' lawyers are set to make
their case before the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
"We're
looking forward to our day in court," said a spokesman for Hodges.
Hodges has argued for months that the Department of Energy will break its own
rules if it ships plutonium to South Carolina from Colorado.
The weapon's
grade plutonium is destined for the Savannah River Site as the government works
to close Colorado's former nuclear facility at Rocky Flats. The plutonium at issue
was left over from the production of nuclear weapons. In 1996, the United States
and Russia agreed to take equal amounts out of their nuclear stockpiles and either
convert it to fuel for nuclear power plants or encase it in radioactive glass
to keep it from being stolen.
But
last year, citing budget pressures, the Bush administration said it would not
yet begin the expensive process of stabilizing the plutonium and encasing it in
glass. Instead, officials said, waste will be stored in containers at the South
Carolina complex. The
Energy Departments plans to eventually convert the material into commerical nuclear
fuel called MOX, mixed oxide. A facility to convert the material is being designed.
"We
will have a fair review and hearing on the matter and let the judges decide,"
DOE spokesman Joe Davis said.
Hodges has been trying to keep the plutonium
out of South Carolina until there are firm guarantees the material won't stay
in the state indefinitely.
Last month the 4th Circuit refused to temporarily
block the shipments. U.S. District Judge Cameron Currie said Hodges didn't provide
enough of violations to stop the plutonium from being shipped. Hodges
doesn't know if the shipments have begun. The governor has argued that the agency
failed to complete necessary environmental impact statements; violated the national
environmental policy act; and backed out of a promise that the weapons-grade plutonium
would be stored only temporarily at Savannah River Site.
"We don't
comment on any aspect of the shipments, including when it left and when it arrived,"
if it was shipped, Davis said. "It's classified."
Lawyers
for the governor will argue the case before Judges Robert King, Emory Widener
and Paul Niemeyer.
