The South Carolina Attorney General’s Office confirmed Tuesday that the state has resumed penalizing the federal government for its continued failure to remove 1 metric ton of plutonium from the Energy Department’s Savannah River Site (SRS).
The state also noted it is considering appealing a U.S. District Court judge’s dismissal of one $100 million claim from South Carolina in its case against the Energy Department.
As of Wednesday, DOE owes South Carolina $203 million and counting, according to state Attorney General Alan Wilson’s office.
The imposed penalties date to Jan. 1, 2016 – the day DOE was supposed to begin paying South Carolina $1 million a day for failing to process at least 1 ton of nuclear weapon-usable plutonium through the SRS Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility, or remove a ton from the state. That is a stipulation of a 2003 agreement between South Carolina and DOE. The total amount is capped at $100 million annually, and the penalty restarted on Monday, according to Wilson’s office.
The Energy Department has not paid any of the money and has not moved the plutonium.
In February 2016, after a month of nonpayment, Wilson sued DOE in U.S. District Court in Columbia, S.C., seeking both the money and the removal of plutonium from South Carolina. A year into the case, Judge J. Michelle Childs ruled South Carolina could not pursue the monetary claim in her court, directing the state to the U.S. Court of Federal Claims (CFC). South Carolina followed the advice and filed the CFC claim in August for the $100 million it says it is due for 2017. Wilson said in August he would pursue the 2016 money once the District Court lawsuit is closed.
“We’re considering our options, specifically about whether to appeal the dismissal of our financial claim,” a spokesperson for Wilson said by email Tuesday.
