Feds To Ship Toxic Radioactive Metal Out of SC After Years Of Disputes

"The U.S. Department of Energy, after years of legal disputes with South Carolina officials, says it will haul away tons of deadly atomic material it had shipped to the Palmetto State for use in a nuclear fuel factory that was never built.

In a public notice late last week, the Energy Department said it plans to send 7.1 metric tons of weapons-grade plutonium from the Savannah River Site nuclear complex near Aiken to a disposal ground in rural New Mexico.

That is the bulk, if not all, of the plutonium shipped years ago from other nuclear sites to SRS for use in the proposed mixed oxide fuel factory, according to organizations critical of the factory. The federal government quit building the fuel project, known as MOX, in 2018 after spending billions of dollars and more than a decade on the effort."

Sammy Fretwell reports for the Columbia State August 30, 2020.

Source: The State, 09/01/2020