A federal judge has granted the state of South Carolina and the Energy Department an additional three months to come up with proposed deadlines and schedules for removing 1 ton of plutonium from the state.
The removal order is the result of the state’s 2016 lawsuit against DOE and its semiautonomous National Nuclear Security Administration last year, which claimed they had breached a 2003 agreement to by Jan. 1, 2016, process 1 metric ton of plutonium at the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility (MFFF) at the Savannah River Site or remove an equal amount of material from the DOE facility. Neither happened.
In a March 20 directive, U.S. District Judge J. Michelle Childs ordered the federal government to remove the plutonium from South Carolina, but directed the parties to work out the schedule themselves. The state had asked for the immediate removal of the plutonium – a request Childs rejected because a proposed action, such as plutonium removal, must first be deemed safe through the National Environmental Policy Act.
Per the order, the parties had until April 21 to file a joint statement outlining schedules and timetables for plutonium removal. But on Thursday, the Energy Department submitted a request for an extension, saying it needed additional time “to obtain more specific and updated information regarding the Department of Energy’s capability and options for the removal of one ton of defense plutonium from the Savannah River Site.”
In the request, the department stated it was not able to provide definitive information on how it can execute plutonium removal, largely due to the lack of a concrete budget in the current fiscal year. Federal agencies are through April 28 operating under a continuing resolution that largely freezes budgeting at prior-year levels.
Childs granted the extension, giving the parties until July 21 to file a joint statement.
Prior to the order requiring the federal government to remove the plutonium, Childs dismissed two other motions from South Carolina: 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 violated the U.S. Constitution.
On the former, South Carolina has the option to file a new complaint in the Court of Federal Claims. The state Attorney General’s Office has not filed a new claim.
The Energy Department and the state both declined to comment on the matter.
