Nevada will defend its efforts to stop a plutonium shipment from South Carolina next week.

The January 17 federal court hearing in Reno will consider Nevada’s request to halt US Department of Energy plans to move 1 metric ton of plutonium from the Savannah River Site about 30 minutes from western Lexington County.

The plutonium is part of 13 metric tons of plutonium now stored at SRS.

South Carolina’s effort to ship the plutonium was part of an effort to save a plutonium fuel (MOX) project.

State Attorney General Alan Wilson, US Sen. Lindsey Graham and other public officials have tried to save the MOX project and its jobs but want the radioactive plutonium shipped to a federal repository in Nevada.

“The shipment will do nothing to pressure DOE to continue the MOX project, and planning for it should be halted,” according to Tom Clements of the Savannah River Site Watch.

“The shipment of plutonium from SRS to Nevada serves no political or programmatic purpose whatsoever,” Clements said.

“Given the security and environmental risks associated with it, the shipment must be immediately canceled,” Clements said.

“While the dilemma of what to do with the surplus weapons plutonium remains, all plutonium should remain at the site in secure storage and no additional shipments should be allowed into the site.”

“We support the effort of the State of Nevada to block the senseless and risky shuttling of plutonium across the country for no justifiable reason,” Clements said.

“The final destination for it is the Los Alamos National Laboratory, for production of unneeded plutonium pits for nuclear weapons.”