The Nation - News from Nov. 10, 1988

An atomic reactor at the Savannah River Plant probably will not restart as scheduled at the end of December, further delaying new supplies of critical nuclear weapons materials, the top Energy Department safety official said. “My own view is that we have been making insufficient progress at the site to meet such a (December) date,” said Richard W. Starostecki, acting assistant energy secretary for environment, safety and health. In the last few months, nuclear weapons production has ground to a virtual halt. Safety concerns shut down the three reactors at Savannah River near Aiken, S.C.; a contamination incident and related problems closed a building at the Rocky Flats Plant near Denver; and a strike shut down the Feed Materials Production Center in Fernald, near Cincinnati, Ohio. The Savannah River reactors are the only facilities in the United States now capable of producing plutonium and tritium, which are needed for nuclear weapons. Plutonium supplies are plentiful, but the tritium shortage will cause problems sometime in the next six months to 24 months, congressional and Administration sources have said.