South Carolina is suing the federal government after the Energy Department announced it was stopping construction of a plant to turn plutonium used in nuclear weapons into fuel for nuclear reactors.
South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson’s lawsuit filed Friday says Energy Secretary Rick Perry didn’t consult Gov. Henry McMaster before ending construction at the Savannah River Site near Aiken.
The lawsuit also says the Energy Department didn’t perform an analysis of how to store the plutonium already at SRS.
Instead of creating mixed oxide fuel, or MOX, the National Nuclear Security Administration suggests SRS make new plutonium pits for nuclear weapons.
Wilson called the decision to end MOX another chapter in the long, tortured history of broken promises by the federal government.
The Energy Department didn’t immediately respond.
South Carolina sues feds over end of nuclear fuel program
