SOUTHERN ANTI-PLUTONIUM CAMPAIGN VICTORY
Plutonium Fuel Factory at SRS Killed by U.S. DOE

On May 10, 2018 U.S. Secretary of Energy Rick Perry used a waiver that effectively kills the unfinished Plutonium Fuel Factory at Savannah River Site (SRS) in South Carolina. The Department of Energy (DOE) submitted a document to Congressional committees stating that the Plutonium Fuel Factory would cost about $48 billion more than the $7.6 billion already spent on it. It was originally estimated to cost $4.8 billion. DOE cited a more cost effective alternative referred to as dilute-and-dispose. According to DOE, Dilute-and-dispose is a process in which plutonium is mixed with inert material for on-site storage.

For over two decades, the Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League has opposed the Plutonium Fuel Factory because it presents unsupportable risks to public safety and the environment. We also expressed concerns regarding the cost of the facility. At least 34 metric tons of Weapons-grade plutonium now stored at military sites across the nation would have been transported to SRS, made into fuel, then shipped to nuclear power plants to burn as fuel. However, no nuclear power plant ever signed up for this experiment.

South Carolina's Governor Henry McMaster has vowed to fight legally to continue the Plutonium Fuel Factory. On May 22, 2018 S.C. Attorney General Alan Wilson notified relevant parties of his intent to sue regarding the facility.

On Oct. 9, 2018, an appeals court overruled a lower court, thus allowing the shutdown. The next day, the U.S. DOE sent a letter to the project contractor CB&I AREVA MOX Services stating that the ruling allows the federal government to stop construction of the fuel factory; therefore, the project’s contract is terminated “effective immediately”. Despite the official end of the fuel factory, South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson, Gov. Henry McMaster and Sen. Lindsey Graham have all vowed to fight to not abandon the facility.

posted Feb. 28, 2019: In 1997, the Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League launched the Southern Anti-plutonium Campaign, the goal of which was to stop the plutonium fuel factory at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina and prevent the expansion of the worldwide plutonium energy economy. Over the decades, we challenged Dominion’s and Duke Energy’s plans to use the fuel at nuclear power plants. Our campaign allied with non-governmental organizations in Russia, Great Britain, France, Japan as well as the US. BREDL spoke at many public forums including Augusta, Charlotte, Washington, Moscow, Saratov and Krasnoyarsk and at the G-8 in Okinawa. We placed the issue before the United Nations at Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty meetings in New York. The February 8, 2019 termination of the construction authorization by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission is the final domino to fall in this dangerous and expensive project. Five billion taxpayer dollars were spent. Final construction cost estimates ballooned to $17 billion, over 400% of the original estimate. But the project was defeated, thanks to the many who acted on the belief that “one person speaking alone may not be heard, but many people speaking with one voice cannot be ignored.”

NRC Feb. 8 Letter