Stalemate In The South

he Bush administration's plans for cleaning up the nasty leftovers of the nuclear arms race are meeting resistance across the country. The Energy Department's proposal for disposing of tons of bomb-grade plutonium has triggered a revolt led by South Carolina, where Energy hopes to base plants to convert the plutonium to nuclear reactor fuel. Palmetto State Gov. Jim Hodges wants legal assurance that as the Energy Department dismantles nuclear weapons, the leftover plutonium will be converted to nuclear fuel, not just left to molder in his state. The battle comes on top of heavy fallout in Nevada, where the White House plans to store radioactive waste.

Hodges, a Democrat who faces reelection this year, began his campaign against the plutonium disposal plan by threatening to use state troopers to halt shipments of the bomb fuel from Energy's Rocky Flats and Pantex facilities in Colorado and Texas. When that failed, he filed suit to stop the shipments ordered by Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham. In May, Energy agreed to postpone the shipments so Hodges could make his case in court.

On June 13, U.S. District Court Judge Cameron M. Currie ruled against Hodges, saying the governor's lawsuit failed to prove Energy had committed any violations or failed to follow proper procedures. Abraham said the ruling "protects our national security as well as the people of South Carolina." Hodges appealed the ruling. He also indicated that a blockade was in the works, saying, "the transportation of plutonium on South Carolina roads and highways is prohibited." In a June 14 order,Currie determined a blockade would be illegal.

The delay has been especially troublesome for officials at Rocky Flats, who told Colorado newspapers the postponement would hamper efforts to complete cleanup of the defunct weapons plant by the target date: Dec. 15, 2006. Texas officials are not nearly as upset, because the Pantex facility near Amarillo-which disassembles nuclear weapons, conducts high explosive research and development, and already provides interim storage of bomb-grade plutonium-remains an active part of Energy's nuclear weapons complex.

Lawsuits and threats of steely-eyed state troopers blocking federal shipments were the last things the White House needed as Congress began debating an important related issue-establishment of Nevada's Yucca Mountain as a national radioactive waste repository. The House voted 306-117 on May 15 to approve the controversial site over fierce objections from state officials. The Senate will vote this summer.

Meanwhile, Energy continues to wrestle with what the General Accounting Office calls the "world's largest environmental cleanup program"-a massive, long-range effort to mop up the mess of nuclear weapons production at a cost of some $6 billion a year over 70 years. "Decades of nuclear weapons production have left a legacy of radioactive, chemical and other hazardous wastes to be cleaned up at sites across the United States," GAO found in 1999 (GAO/RCED-99-129). In May 2001, GAO reported that 26 of 144 Energy Department nuclear production sites would need to dispose of at least 6.8 million cubic meters of wastes-primarily contaminated soil and building debris. "This amount would fill a space as long and wide as a football field and almost one mile high," the congressional auditors wrote (GAO-01-441).

The weapons-grade plutonium the government wants to ship to South Carolina's Savannah River Site is not the same as the nuclear waste likely to wind up in Nevada. On Jan. 23, Abraham tapped Savannah River, owned by the Energy Department and operated by the Westinghouse Savannah River Co., as the future home of two plants that will convert the former bomb innards into fuel for commercial reactors. Less than half the plutonium bound for Savannah River is awaiting shipment from Rocky Flats. Most is stored at nu-clear cleanup sites or being collected at the Pantex Plant as workers there continue to disassemble nuclear weapons in accordance with a 2000 treaty between the United States and Russia to reduce the size of their nuclear arsenals.

The Plutonium Management and Disposition Agreement commits the two countries to dispose of 68 metric tons (34 tons per country) of weapons-grade plutonium. The pact sets Dec. 31, 2007, as the target date to begin eliminating the material, and calls for each nation to dispose of at least two metric tons of plutonium a year.

Converting plutonium to mixed oxide (MOX) nuclear fuel, a process that has been used in Europe for two decades, will speed the cleanup of U.S. weapons sites, dispose of material that could be stolen and used by terrorists, and create at least 1,300 jobs at Savannah River, according to Abraham. The MOX-burning technology used by more than 30 European reactors will be the model for the American program. Domestic commercial reactors that use MOX fuel will be licensed and regulated by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Abraham says the MOX plan "is central to enhancing our national security and advancing our nonproliferation goals." He says the plan, announced in January, resulted from careful study of more than 40 alternatives that considered costs, other technologies, national defense requirements, and compliance with nuclear nonproliferation agreements.

Hodges strongly backs the U.S.-Russian accord and favors new missions for the 310-square-mile Savannah River Site, which was one of the country's most important bomb manufacturing plants during the Cold War. And despite their concerns that the federal government's commitment to conversion could wane, the governor and the state's congressional delegation-including Republican Rep. Lindsey Graham, whose district includes Savannah River-were pleased when Abraham chose South Carolina for the two high-tech plants that will convert the 34 metric tons of bomb-grade plutonium-enough for 4,200 nuclear weapons-to MOX fuel. In March 1999, the Energy Department selected Duke COGEMA Stone & Webster to design, construct and operate the MOX plants at Savannah River that will convert plutonium to commercial fuel.

If all goes as Energy plans, several nuclear power plants in the Carolinas would use the fuel. The spent fuel would be shipped to Yucca Mountain for storage. Abraham contends that the technology works, that the Bush administration is committed to the conversion project, and that Hodges' lawsuit "runs completely counter to any effort to work together to reach a solution."

Exit Strategy

The MOX conversion project, announced earlier this year, will cost $3.8 billion over 20 years, and will bring Savannah River 500 construction jobs and, eventually, 800 jobs in the new conversion plants. But so far, the Bush administration has asked Congress for just $380 million. That's a fine start, Hodges says, but no guarantee of long-term funding. Before he will accept any plutonium, Hodges wants an agreement subject to federal court enforcement guaranteeing that the size of the plutonium shipments will correspond to the amount of funding the federal government provides, and that Washington will take back the plutonium if funding dries up before the plants are built. "If 10 percent of the project is funded, we'll take 10 percent of the plutonium," he says.

The Energy Department has said it cannot commit future congresses or administrations to spending plans that must be approved each year as part of the budget process. But Energy Department spokesman Joe Davis says the department and the Bush administration stand solidly behind the fuel conversion program "and will for years to come. We've made a firm commitment."

In mid-April, Abraham notified Hodges of his final offer: a legislative proposal (instead of the contract Hodges wants) that requires Energy to remove at least one ton of plutonium from the state if the MOX plant hasn't produced a ton of fuel by Jan. 1, 2009. If the project is abandoned, the department has vowed that by 2017 it would take back all the plutonium shipped to Savannah River. "No plutonium will move into the state . . . without a pathway for that plutonium to come out," Abraham wrote to Hodges, adding that the department "has gone the extra mile in this matter to completely address all the concerns raised by South Carolina." Abraham called Hodges' proposal "irresponsible and inappropriate," saying the executive branch cannot impose its will on the legislative branch, and warning that a contract could lead to foreign policy being conducted in the courts. "The courts are an appropriate forum for handling lawsuits, not for performing such executive branch duties as overseeing and implementing the U.S.-Russian nuclear nonproliferation agreement," Abraham told Hodges in a letter on April 12. "This is especially true at this time, when we have clear evidence that terrorist groups are seeking access to nuclear materials."

Hodges disagreed, and Abraham announced shipments would start anyway. The schedule called for 76 trailer loads of plutonium to be delivered to Savannah River from Rocky Flats from May 15 through June 2003. The deliveries are now on hold, pending resolution of Hodges' lawsuit.

In the meantime, Hodges continues to fret about not getting a commitment for long-term funding in a document he can take to a judge, and has speculated that Washington might put up $380 million-the first installment for the two plants-to con his state into accepting truckloads of bomb-quality plutonium. "In Washington terms, $380 million is not a lot of money. There could be those who believe it's a small price to pay for finding a permanent storage site for plutonium in South Carolina," he says. Hodges adds that even if the Bush White House is committed to the project, "administrations change. They're asking us to take something as dangerous as plutonium and they're unwilling to make a long-term funding commitment. They believe that [initial] funding ought to be enough for us." Rep. Graham shares some of Hodges' concerns, but says the governor may be making unreasonable demands. "I don't want to do a deal that's phony," he says, "but there are legal limitations on the budget process. The idea that [Energy can commit] to funding in the out-years is probably a bridge too far."

In May, Graham introduced legislation requiring that the Energy secretary issue regular reports to Congress on the status of the MOX program, and that plutonium shipments cease if the secretary fails to certify that the program is on schedule. The bill also specifies that if the program doesn't produce MOX fuel by 2009, Energy must within two years produce one ton of MOX or remove one ton of plutonium from the state. Graham wants fines of $1 million a day if the government fails to meet the last requirement. Further, if the MOX program isn't up and running by 2017, Graham's still-pending legislation calls for all plutonium to be removed from the state.

The risk for a small Southern state that needs jobs and money is that Energy might decide to build the plants at a site elsewhere within the nation's nuclear complex-Graham notes that "there aren't many others anxious to invest $4 billion in our state." Tom Clements of the Nuclear Control Institute, a Washington nonproliferation advocacy group, sees little chance of that because of the infrastructure and knowledge base already in place at Savannah River.

The site employed more than 25,000 workers at the height of the Cold War, when its main mission was to produce tritium, a radioactive gas and critical ingredient in nuclear bombs. Once the Berlin Wall fell and tensions eased between the superpowers, officials began taking a hard look at what was left after decades in which environmental concerns took a back seat to weapons production. Most Cold War-era jobs at Savannah River involved some facet of weapons production. When the demand for bombs fell, so did the number of people employed at the facility. Though the site remains one of South Carolina's largest industrial employers, the workforce has dropped to 13,800.

Most people employed there today are involved in environmental cleanup and remediation, interim storage and conversion of high-level radioactive waste, and stewardship of nuclear weapons materials.

Clements has concerns that outweigh the job situation in South Carolina, however. His group favors immobilizing the plutonium and storing it at a permanent repository such as the proposed Yucca Mountain site. The institute has urged the Energy Department to conduct an additional environmental review if it intends to stick with the fuel conversion initiative and ship plutonium to South Carolina. In January, Abraham announced the decision to go exclusively with a fuel conversion program instead of immobilizing some of the plutonium in glass logs. "Eliminating immobilization from the disposition pathway saves nearly $2 billion in funding, decreases plutonium storage costs, and facilitates the closure of the department's former nuclear weapons complex sites," Abraham said in a Jan. 23 statement.

Clements also contends that while the treaty with Russia calls for both sides to eliminate warhead plutonium, the Russians are well behind the United States. "Maintenance of parity between the Russian and American . . . programs is essential," the institute wrote in a March 27 letter to the Energy Department. Constructing fuel conversion plants "without Russia being at the same point will represent a move toward unilateral and premature disposition . . . on the U.S. side and is unacceptable," according to the institute.

Hodges' refusal to go along quietly has been of particular concern at Rocky Flats, which is supposed to be cleaned, closed, and turned into a wildlife refuge in four years. The facility was about to begin shipping plutonium to South Carolina when Hodges stopped the operation in August 2001 with his first threat to dispatch troopers.

"We do have material packaged and ready for shipment," Rocky Flats spokesman Pat Etchard says. Delays are a problem because they upset Colorado lawmakers and prevent shipment of radioactive material. That means Rocky Flats has to spend more on security to protect plutonium and less on cleanup.

The Rocky Flats Environmental Technology Site, 15 miles northwest of downtown Denver, made components for nuclear weapons until 1989, when it was shut down because of environmental and safety concerns. "Nearly 40 years of nuclear weapons production left behind a legacy of contaminated facilities, soils and ground water," says the Energy Department's "Rocky Flats Closure Project" Web site. An accelerated $7 billion cleanup project began in 1995, with the goal of converting the facility to a wildlife refuge. Though Rocky Flats wants to start shipping plutonium to South Carolina, it already ships plutonium pits (the "triggers" for nuclear weapons) to the Pantex plant in Texas and highly enriched uranium to another Energy Department facility in Oak Ridge, Tenn.

Promises, Promises

Why not simply continue to store the material? Abraham says that would pass the problem to the next generation, cost hundreds of millions each year, undermine commitments made to remove high-level waste from numerous sites in the nation's weapons complex, and violate the pact with the Russians.

The source of the material bound for South Carolina is of little concern to Hodges, who says that at Rocky Flats, "It's like they're waiting for the checkered flag to come down."

"In the end, if there's not some enforceable mechanism, we're going to have to stand firm," Hodges says. "We must have confidence that promises made will be promises kept." Should an agreement be reached, the Energy Department expects full-scale operations to begin at Savannah River Site by fiscal 2007.