Judge denies state’s bid for plutonium shipment stoppage

RENO, Nev.

A federal judge denied Nevada’s latest request Thursday to immediately block all future shipments of weapons-grade plutonium to a nuclear security site near Las Vegas.

The state wanted the shipments blocked until potential safety and environmental risks could be reviewed further. U.S. District Court Judge Miranda Du denied the state’s request a day after the Energy Department revealed that it had already sent half of the highly radioactive material that it had planned to move from South Carolina to the Nevada National Security Site.

The judge in Reno said in a 16-page ruling that proceedings will continue on a regular schedule in a lawsuit Nevada filed in November seeking to block plans the Energy Department approved in August to transfer a full metric ton of plutonium to Nevada.

The department disclosed for the first time Wednesday that the shipment was sent sometime before November and said it doesn’t intend to ship any more to the site 70 miles north of Las Vegas.

Associated Press