The United States secretly shipped South Carolina plutonium to Nevada

Reno, Nev. • The US Department of Energy revealed on Wednesday that it had been secretly shipping military-grade plutonium from South Carolina to a nuclear safety site in Nevada, despite protests from the United States. ;State.

The Department of Justice informed a federal judge in Reno that the government had trucked radioactive material for storage on the site 70 km north of Las Vegas before Nevada asked a court to block the move in November.

that previously classified information on South Carolina's shipment may be disclosed now, as it has elapsed enough time to protect national security. They did not specify when the metric tonne of plutonium would have been transferred.

Nevada Governor Steve Sisolak said "more than shocked by this totally unacceptable trickery". He announced Wednesday at a press conference in Carson City that the state was seeking a new court order to block any further shipment of plutonium as it pursued "all legal remedies", including the Federal government's contempt of court [19659002] The newly-elected Democrat said that he was exploring different options for plutonium already arrived and that he was working with the Nevada delegation in Congress to fight against the "reckless disregard" of the US government for the safety of Nevadans.

Democratic Senator Jacky Rosen called the government's move "deceptive and unethical". Senator Catherine Cortez Masto, also a Democrat from Nevada, said she would ask department officials to go to her office on Thursday to explain how they made the "reckless decision" with such "bad faith."

The Democratic Republic, Dina Titus, said the Trump administration has repeatedly tried to use Nevada as a dumping ground for nuclear waste. Trump has relaunched a decades-old proposal to store the country's nuclear waste at another site outside of Las Vegas, Yucca Mountain, after the project was virtually shut down by the Obama administration.

Justice Department lawyers said on Wednesday that there were no more deliveries. of military grade plutonium are planned from South Carolina to Nevada. They said they believed Nevada's lawsuit to block shipments was now irrelevant.

But Nevada lawyers said on Wednesday night that their offer to seek an emergency injunction was more critical than ever after the Energy Department had misled them into action. shipments. They say the government has created "palpable suspicion" that new expeditions are coming to Nevada.

Sisolak described months of negotiations with Department of Energy officials on plutonium leading to the new disclosure of "total simulacrum". 19659002] "They lied to the state of Nevada, misled a federal court and endangered the safety of Nevada's families and environment," he said.

District Judge Miranda Du de Reno is already reviewing the state's earlier application to block the plans of the Ministry of Energy – announced in August – to ship a full ton of plutonium to Nevada from South Carolina, where a federal judge previously had ordered that plutonium be removed from a Savannah River site by 2020.

Nevada contends that the department has not studied any adequately the potential dangers of the movement of material that can still be used to develop nuclear weapons in an area prone to floods and earthquakes. and that the state's land and groundwater may already be contaminated with radioactive material

In January, Du refused to immediately block plutonium and said it would not reign until February. "I hope the government will not ship plutonium pending a decision from our court," she said at the time.

Nevada and the Department of Justice filed their final briefs Wednesday at the request of the judge, who asked if the case had to go ahead. Justice Department lawyers have said any excess plutonium from South Carolina will not be shipped to Nevada.

At the same time, the states of Nevada and South Carolina continue to argue over where any legal challenge should be heard. Nevada experts testified that the material would likely have to go directly through Las Vegas before going to the Nevada National Security site. They fear that an accident will harm a region of 2.2 million inhabitants and more than 40 million tourists a year.

The plan approved by the Department of Energy last August provided for the storage of a ton of material stored in the Nevada nuclear reactor. Pantex security site and factory in Texas, two facilities that already process and process plutonium. The ministry said it would be sent by 2027 to the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico or to another unnamed facility.