Nuke fuel to move to Nevada Test Site

Monday, Jan. 6, 2003 | 9:07 a.m.

The Energy Department has officially decided to ship tons of bomb-grade plutonium and uranium away from an aging laboratory in New Mexico to the Nevada Test Site.

The decision was published last week in the Federal Register. Department officials reached the conclusion to move the nuclear weapons fuel in mid-December, according to federal documents.

The Energy Department's National Nuclear Security Administration is in charge of the project.

About 2.6 tons of plutonium and 11 tons of weapons-grade uranium would be shipped to a secure facility at the Test Site, about 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas, according to the plan.

The nuclear materials are expected to be moved from Technical Area 18 at Los Alamos National Laboratory to a Test Site complex built to assemble nuclear devices.

The Energy Department planned to build the $100 million Device Assembly Facility at the Test Site in the early 1980s -- during the Cold War -- but did not complete it until 1998 after a 1992 nuclear testing moratorium.

About 20 new employees will maintain the facility, the Energy Department said in its decision. If the project goes forward, about 300 construction workers will be needed.

The Energy Department has estimated it will cost between $80 million and $100 million to move the nuclear materials to an upgraded facility at the Test Site.

No significant environmental impacts were expected from the move, department documents said.

The Energy Department noted that after distributing 1,200 copies of a final environmental impact statement, two comments were received. Both concerned a threat to national security if the nuclear materials were moved from New Mexico to Nevada. Both individuals said that experienced federal staff would be lost in the move.

In the past, Nevada's congressional delegation has been concerned and expressed caution in moving the nuclear weapons material to the Test Site.