Nearly two decades after standing down production of nuclear weapons material at Savannah River Site, the nation has launched into a new generation of nuclear research and plutonium production.

But much of that work and the thousands of high-paying scientific jobs that once helped fuel the growth and prosperity of South Carolina appear headed elsewhere.

If the course isn't reversed, the state could be left with a 310-square-mile contaminated legacy with a questionable future -- other than providing a home to highly radioactive and dangerous nuclear waste.

But there are possibilities, and high hopes.

A spot has been reserved for the nation's first plant that turns weapons-grade plutonium into fuel for commercial reactors. The state's congressmen say they also are lobbying hard for new reactors to do research and make hydrogen for cars of the future.

"It's not going to be the 20,000- (or) 30,000-employee plant it was 15 years ago or so, but I think it's got a real bright future," said Joseph Ortaldo, a member of the SRS Citizens Advisory Board.

The site employed a work force of 35,000 at its peak in the 1950s, but it is down to about 12,000. Many of those employees are working themselves out of a job as they finish cleaning plants that once made bomb parts.

New missions for the site have been proposed, but few carry any guarantees.

The plant that would produce mixed-oxide fuel, or MOX, would create as many as 1,500 jobs at its peak. Construction on the plant, once estimated at $4 billion, hinges on the United States and Russia formalizing an agreement centered on liability issues.

"We've got so many things just waiting in the wings that are just an eyelash away of happening," 3rd District U.S. Rep. Gresham Barrett, a Republican, said. "One of them, of course, is MOX."

In one sense, Savannah River Site would seem to be a developer's dream. It is a heavily forested area in the heart of the Sunbelt with a lake and plenty of riverfront property. A black water creek flows through the heart of it, and wild turkey roam through the woods.

But the federal government plans to hold on to the site for thousands of years, so don't expect any new subdivisions or schools to rise from the soil soon, said James R. Giusti, an Energy Department spokesman at SRS.

Radioactive material is scattered throughout the site, and it's not just the 37 million gallons of high-level waste stored in 49 underground tanks.

Workers use construction equipment to bury low-level radioactive waste, such as contaminated lab coats. At another SRS facility, waste is mixed with fly ash from giant tanks that look like water towers, then pumped into huge concrete vaults.

About 10 percent of the site's 198,344 acres are considered contaminated, Giusti said.

The site has years of cleanup ahead and other missions to keep employees working. It's home to the nation's only facility for recycling and purifying tritium from nuclear weapons. Savannah River National Laboratory, the nation's newest national lab, employs a 750-person research staff, a quarter with doctorates.

Fifth District U.S. Rep. John Spratt, a Democrat, said he sees a mixed-oxide plant, tritium processing and waste disposal in the facility's future.

"I see a fairly full future for Savannah River Site," he said, "and it's more than just handling that waste."

Jean Sulc, chairwoman of the SRS Citizens Advisory Board, said she doesn't see the state becoming the dumping ground for the nation.

"That's up to the governor and the Legislature to put controls on what comes in," she said. "I feel they have enough of a handle on that."

Savannah River Site took six tons of weapons-grade plutonium from Rocky Flats, Colo., over the objections of former Gov. Jim Hodges in 2002. At the time, Hodges threatened to lie down in front of the trucks carrying the plutonium.

Hodges said the state still needs to be suspicious and aggressive when dealing with the Energy Department.

"Plutonium is very dangerous," he said. "Any time a new mission occurs there that could lead to the long-term presence or storage of plutonium, it could be damaging to South Carolina."

The United States and Russia agreed in 2000 to convert 34 metric tons of weapons-grade plutonium each to reduce nuclear stockpiles. The U.S. plant would be at SRS, while the Russian plant would be in Siberia.

The Rocky Flats plutonium would be among the material processed in the United States. A small, gravel parking area and a stand of trees currently occupy the spot where the U.S. mixed-oxide plant would be built.

"We're not going to unilaterally disarm here," said Republican U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham.

Graham said recently a "preliminary agreement" has been reached on plants. Finalizing it requires a Russian presidential decree, then the United States and Russia signing it and the Russian Duma ratifying it, he said.

Meanwhile, two big nuclear projects have been steered toward Idaho National Laboratory.

The Energy Department has said it is considering making plutonium-238 at the lab for use in spacecraft and other "national security" activities. The Senate Energy bill calls for a new hydrogen-producing reactor to be built at the same site.

Fourth District U.S. Rep. Bob Inglis, a Republican, said the plans in Idaho don't derail his hopes for luring a hydrogen-producing reactor to SRS. He said the Idaho reactor would specialize in research, while the one he wants at SRS would be a bigger and more expensive commercial reactor that produces hydrogen.

"I don't know a better site in the country for such a commercial reactor than the Savannah River Site," Inglis said. "We've got the expertise. We've got the land."

NuStart Energy Development, a consortium of power companies, says the site near Aiken is one of six under consideration for the nation's first nuclear power plant in about 30 years. The group, which includes Duke Energy, plans to narrow the list to two by October.

Another possibility is for the Army and the Homeland Security Department to use Savannah River Site as a training ground, Giusti said. But those proposals are in their infancy and far from sure, he said.

In the meantime, more waste could be headed for the site.

Plutonium-238 that was manufactured at SRS and sent to the Hanford complex in Washington in 1966 could be returned to South Carolina.

If that happens, SRS would process the plutonium in H-Canyon and offer it to other federal agencies, which could use it as fuel for spacecraft. But if the federal government can't use the plutonium-238, it would be turned to glass and stored at the site until it can be sent to a national repository.