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 Friday, DOE owes South Carolina $205 million and counting, according to 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 metric 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 caps off 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 plutonium removal matter was settled. Now that Childs has made a ruling, “We’re considering our options, specifically about whether to appeal the dismissal of our financial claim,” a spokesperson for Wilson said by email Tuesday.
The Attorney General’s Office mentioned that possible move following separate rulings on the plutonium removal demand last month from Childs. On Dec. 20, she ordered DOE to take out at least 1 metric ton of the material from the Savannah River Site and the state by Jan. 1, 2020. Her order also calls for the department to provide routine reports to the court and South Carolina, detailing its progress in removing the plutonium.
The order rejects South Carolina’s request for Childs to enact penalties if DOE fails to meet the deadline, and another request for the federal agency to seek special funding from Congress to help move the plutonium.
Then, on Dec. 27, Childs issued a summary judgment that briefly recaps the order. South Carolina and the Energy Department have until Jan. 24 to decide if they will appeal the summary judgment.
