South Carolina, a state with two multi-billion dollar nuclear power-related projects canceled in the middle of construction, is suing the federal government over the Department of Energy's abrupt decision last week to stop work an a facility that would have processed weapons-grade plutonium into mixed oxide (MOX) fuel for nuclear power plants.
The state claims that studies on storing the plutonium in South Carolina were never done. Furthermore, the state says that the federal government did not consult with S.C. Gov. Henry McMaster before canceling the project at the Savannah River Site.
The National Nuclear Security Administration has recommended the facility make new plutonium pits, the hard core fissile material in atomic weapons, AP reported.