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Article published Jul 8, 2004
Dangerous material may be here for quite some
time
South Carolinians' worst fears about the plutonium the
federal government is sending here may be coming true.From the time federal
officials first announced that surplus plutonium from nuclear weapons plants
would be sent to the Savannah River Site in South Carolina, state officials were
concerned that the material would end up staying here.Federal officials said
that would not be the case. They planned for half of the material to be
immobilized and shipped to a permanent disposal site in Yucca Mountain, Nev.,
while the other half would be reprocessed into fuel for commercial nuclear
reactors.But state officials knew that federal plans for dealing with
radioactive waste are always delayed and usually changed.They were concerned
that the Savannah River Site would end up being a long-term, if not permanent,
storage site for this dangerous and highly radioactive material.Former Gov. Jim
Hodges sued to keep the material out of the state and lost.Sen. Lindsey Graham
convinced Congress to pass a law that will force the federal government to stick
to its timetable for removing the waste from South Carolina or pay heavy fines
to the state.But both channels for dealing with the waste have been delayed. And
a Department of Energy report states that the plutonium is "currently without a
disposition path." Leaving the plutonium at SRS is unacceptable. The plant is
neither designed, equipped nor located in a suitable location for long-term
storage of highly radioactive waste.Federal officials must place a priority on
building the reprocessing facility at SRS that will convert the weapons material
into commercial nuclear fuel. That priority doesn't exist. Congress cut $165
million from that program this year.South Carolina's congressional delegation
must continue to bring pressure to bear. First, it should not allow any
negotiations or leeway on the fines the federal government will owe the state if
the deadlines for shipping the plutonium out of the state are not met.Our
senators and representatives must make sure that it costs the government more
money to leave the stuff here than it does to dispose of it properly.