A federal judge on Monday ordered that 1 metric ton of plutonium be removed from South Carolina, but did not set a schedule for that to happen.
The state sued the Department of Energy and its semiautonomous National Nuclear Security Administration last year, claiming they had breached a 2003 agreement to by Jan. 1, 2016, process 1 metric ton of plutonium at the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility at the Savannah River Site or remove an equal amount of material from the DOE facility. Neither happened, and state Attorney General Alan Wilson sued in February 2016.
In a 37-page order on the state’s request for summary judgment, U.S. District Judge J. Michelle Childs wrote that, “for an order compelling the Secretary to remove from South Carolina one metric ton of defense plutonium is GRANTED IN PART, with a more specific description of the injunctive relief to be forthcoming in a separate order, and DENIED IN PART, to the extent the State requests that the order compel the Secretary to remove the defense plutonium immediately.
Furthermore, Childs said she would retain jurisdiction over the case “until the forthcoming injunctive relief is entered.” The judge noted that she had previously dismissed two other motions from the state in the lawsuit: a requirement that the federal government pay the state $100 million per year in fines while it remained in violation of the agreement, and the assertion that DOE’s failure to meet the terms of the 2003 deal constituted a violation of the U.S. Constitution.
The sides, under Monday’s order, have until April 21 to produce a joint statement covering deadlines and other details needed to carry out the judge’s ruling.
