Plutonium Said to Be Sent to S. Carolina

The federal government has begun shipping tons of weapon-grade plutonium from Colorado to South Carolina despite a lawsuit by those who fear that the fuel will be permanently stored in the state, according to a Colorado lawmaker’s office.

Energy Department officials briefed Sen. Wayne Allard (R-Colo.) on the status of the shipments Friday, said Allard’s spokesman, Sean Conway. He said the department probably would not have confirmed that the shipments had begun unless they had arrived in South Carolina.

The officials told Allard that final shipments would be scheduled to leave a former weapon plant in Colorado by the end of 2003, allowing the site to be turned into a wildlife preserve, Conway said.

Energy Department spokesman Joe Davis would not confirm the status of the shipments.

“I can’t comment specifically on the dates, times or schedules, nor can I comment on whether they have begun or whether they arrived in South Carolina,” he said.

The material has been the subject of a showdown between Gov. Jim Hodges and the Energy Department. Hodges once vowed to use state troopers to turn back the shipments unless given assurances that South Carolina would not be a permanent home for the plutonium.

Hodges fought the shipments for more than a year, holding highway roadblock exercises and promising to lie in front of trucks to keep the shipments from crossing the state line.

He lost a federal court fight to block the shipments and was rebuffed by a federal judge when he tried to ban shipments from the state after the ruling. He is waiting for a U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals decision on the issue.

“I think it’s bad for South Carolina,” he said Thursday. “We’re going to keep fighting.”

The Energy Department plans to spend $4 billion on a facility that would convert 34 metric tons of surplus weapon-grade plutonium into fuel that can be used in nuclear power plants as part of a disarmament treaty with Russia.