Feds lack plan for SRS waste

Fifty tons of plutonium is either stored at the Savannah River Site or on its way, and one-quarter of that has no definite destination. (News file photo) e-mail this story More details ABOUT SRS Built during the 1950s, SRS produced the basic materials used in the fabrication of nuclear weapons, primarily tritium and plutonium. Five reactors were built on the site. Today, dozens of tanks at SRS hold liquid radioactive waste left over from making those materials. About Top Jobs

There also is no plan to destroy seven more tons destined for storage at SRS, according to a pair of letters from Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham to Vice President Dick Cheney and House Speaker Dennis Hastert.

That means 26 percent of the 50 tons of plutonium either stored here or on its way to the state has no definitive pathway out. That worries some residents who live near the site.

"It's incredible to think about," said Democratic state Rep. Lonnie Hosey of Barnwell. "The citizens here hope there is a plan to get rid of it."

But just because there are no plans doesn't mean the government won't get rid of the plutonium, said Kevin Bishop, spokesman for U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.

A federal law passed in 2002 that was authored by then-Rep. Graham and the late U.S. Sen. Strom Thurmond imposes penalties of $1 million a day beginning in 2009 if the federal government doesn't live up to its promises.

Joe Davis, spokesman for the Energy Department, said the plutonium in question isn't weapons-grade plutonium and there has never been a plan to destroy it.

He said any plutonium brought to the state will be removed, but that doesn't apply to plutonium stored here before the agreement. "That hasn't changed," he said. "We are looking for a way to get rid of it.

"SRS has always played a role in helping to take care of this stuff and they will in the future."

The state has known that plutonium would be stored at SRS for some time. In 1999, the site was selected for converting plutonium to a mixed-oxide fuel for commercial nuclear reactors, or MOX fuel.

Thirty-four tons of plutonium will be destroyed as part of the MOX program. That program is being pursued with the Russians, but it is delayed because of construction problems in Russia.

Even more plutonium could come in and out of the state until 2070 if SRS is selected as the site for a new plant to build triggers for nuclear weapons. Funding for the plant was recently cut by the House.

In 2002, the federal government decided to consolidate the nation's plutonium stockpile, in part to protect it from terrorism. Those plans brought much of the plutonium to South Carolina, and Congress passed a law to make sure it didn't stay here permanently.

Gov. Mark Sanford expects there to be a path out of the state for any plutonium coming into South Carolina that isn't destined for the MOX program, spokesman Will Folks said.

"That is something he has stressed throughout this process and something he will continue to stress in discussions with Secretary Abraham," Folks said.

Former Gov. Jim Hodges, who threatened to lay down in front of trucks bringing the Rocky Flats plutonium into the state in 2002, said the report reinforces the measures he took in trying to keep the plutonium from coming to South Carolina.

Hodges said the Clinton administration's Department of Energy had two plans for the plutonium — both the MOX and destruction through turning it into glass.

"Their feeling was that if MOX doesn't work, there's always immobilization," he said. "It looks to me like this reinforces the wisdom of the policy of the prior administration."

Abraham's letter also reveals for the first time that up to seven tons of plutonium some thought was stored at the Savannah River Site is still at three other sites — the Hanford Site in Washington as well as smaller quantities at the Los Alamos and Lawrence Livermore national laboratories.

Tom Clements, chief of Greenpeace's nuclear campaign, called for a full and public federal review of the nation's plutonium strategy.

"Despite a decade of planning and massive expenditures, it is unfortunate that DOE still has no overall plan to dispose of plutonium," Clements said.

The six tons of plutonium now at SRS were shipped from the now-closed Rocky Flats site in Colorado. Rocky Flats was declared free of plutonium last August, though officials won't say when the plutonium was shipped here.

The law that imposes the penalties calls for the MOX program to produce one ton of the fuel by 2009. The agency also must produce a ton within two years or remove one ton of plutonium from the state. If that one ton isn't produced, the state can collect a fee of $1 million a day, up to $100 million a year until the requirement is met.

By 2017, the law requires the Energy Department to produce up to three tons of MOX. In addition, the facilities must produce at least one ton a year for two consecutive years.

If the program is unsuccessful by 2017, the law requires that all plutonium in the state be immediately removed.

However, the entire MOX program is in limbo because of delays in Russia and a $165 million cut to its funding by the U.S. House two weeks ago.

"It just seems like we're on the back burner," Hosey said. "As South Carolinians we like to think and hope that we're considered, but it's not happening."

Jason Zacher covers the environment and natural resources. He can be reached at 298-4272.