Rocky Flats to Ship Plutonium

The following story from the Associated Press regarding the shipment of plutonium from Colorado to South Carolina appeared in local newspapers throughout the country this week.

Golden, Colo.- Workers at the former Rocky Flats nuclear weapons plant have been told to keep preparing plutonium to be moved to South Carolina by mid-October despite a dispute over the shipments.

Rocky Flats spokesman Jeremy Karpatkin said Monday workers will keep packing the plutonium in special shipping containers with the expectation the material will begin leaving as scheduled.

"That doesn't mean it will leave on time," Karpatkin said.

"We've been instructed to be prepared to meet the original schedule."

South Carolina has not agreed to accept the highly radioactive material, a spokesman for Gov. Jim Hodges said.

A meeting is scheduled Friday between South Carolina officials and the U.S. Department of Energy, which oversees Rocky Flats.

South Carolina had an agreement with the federal government to bring 50 tons of weapons-grade plutonium from Rocky Flats and elsewhere to the Savannah River Site near Aiken beginning in October. It would be converted into fuel for nuclear power plants or immobilized for storage in Nevada.

Hodges threatened to stop the shipments unless federal authorities agreed in writing to specify when the plutonium would leave the state.

"We are hopeful this will be resolved to the state's benefit before mid-October," said Courtney Owings, Hodges' spokeswoman.