September 16, 2022 - 4:21 pm
Updated September 16, 2022 - 4:24 pm
By Gary Martin
WASHINGTON – A half-metric ton of weapons-grade plutonium secretly shipped into Nevada has been removed four years early under federal court order and an agreement reached by U.S. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto and former Energy Secretary Rick Perry, officials said Friday.
Cortez Masto, D-Nev., first announced the removal of the plutonium, stored at the Nevada National Security Site north of Las Vegas.
She was notified by the National Nuclear Security Administration late Friday.
... Attempts to contact the Department of Energy and the National Nuclear Security Administration for comment were not immediately returned.
The NNSA shipped the plutonium from the Savannah River Site in South Carolina to Nevada in 2019 under federal court order.
Four years ahead of schedule
“When I heard that the Trump administration secretly shipped weapons-grade plutonium to our state, I acted immediately to ensure it was removed,” Cortez Masto said in a statement. Cortez Masto also secured in writing a pledge by Perry not to send any more plutonium from South Carolina to Nevada.
... Some of the material was sent to the Nevada facility, and some to the Pantex Plant in Texas until pits to accommodate the material at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico were completed, according to NNSA.
... also sought to open Yucca Mountain as a permanent nuclear waste repository, just 60 miles north of Las Vegas.
Updated September 16, 2022 - 4:24 pm
By Gary Martin
WASHINGTON – A half-metric ton of weapons-grade plutonium secretly shipped into Nevada has been removed four years early under federal court order and an agreement reached by U.S. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto and former Energy Secretary Rick Perry, officials said Friday.
Cortez Masto, D-Nev., first announced the removal of the plutonium, stored at the Nevada National Security Site north of Las Vegas.
She was notified by the National Nuclear Security Administration late Friday.
... Attempts to contact the Department of Energy and the National Nuclear Security Administration for comment were not immediately returned.
The NNSA shipped the plutonium from the Savannah River Site in South Carolina to Nevada in 2019 under federal court order.
Four years ahead of schedule
“When I heard that the Trump administration secretly shipped weapons-grade plutonium to our state, I acted immediately to ensure it was removed,” Cortez Masto said in a statement. Cortez Masto also secured in writing a pledge by Perry not to send any more plutonium from South Carolina to Nevada.
... Some of the material was sent to the Nevada facility, and some to the Pantex Plant in Texas until pits to accommodate the material at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico were completed, according to NNSA.
... also sought to open Yucca Mountain as a permanent nuclear waste repository, just 60 miles north of Las Vegas.
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