State lawmakers in South Carolina this week to approved distribution of $525 million from a federal settlement the state won in 2020 after the Department of Energy failed to meet deadlines for removing plutonium from the Savannah River Site.
The bicameral state legislature’s House and Senate ratified a budget bill apportioning the money from the settlement on Wednesday after a joint House-Senate Budget Conference Committee approved the measure late last week.
Aiken, Barnwell and Allendale counties, the three closest to the Savannah River Site, were set to take about 65% of the total, local media reported June 10. That roughly matches the total the South Carolina Senate recommended in February. Some South Carolina House lawmakers wanted a bigger cut.
The 2020 settlement, related to DOE’s inability to dispose of surplus weapon-usable plutonium and other plutonium, was the largest in state history. It totaled $600 million, though private attorneys who assisted with the case took about $75 million for themselves.
