Plutonium Being Moved to New Mexico

Plutonium Being Moved to New Mexico

Eleven pounds of plutonium is scheduled to depart the Savannah River Site in South Carolina this week toward storage at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico, the Associated Press reported (see GSN, Aug. 22, 2005).
The U.S. Energy Department over two decades might transfer 4.7 tons of the material to the New Mexico facility, with each shipment involving about 11 pounds of plutonium (Associated Press/Charlotte Observer, June 25).
Prior to shipping, the plutonium would be combined with a substance called "stardust" to deter opportunists who might seek a nuclear-weapon material and to reduce the difficulty of transport, the Augusta, Ga., Chronicle reported on June 12.
The plutonium being transferred was not used in the cores, or "pits," of nuclear weapons. It is excess material that cannot be converted into mixed-oxide nuclear reactor fuel though a plant being built at the Savannah River Site, according to the report (see GSN, June 7).