Judge Faults Environmental Review of Nuclear Pit Production Plan

The Energy Department failed to properly review its plan to expand the production of plutonium pits used in nuclear warheads at sites in South Carolina and New Mexico, a federal court ruled.

A judge in the US District Court for the District of South Carolina agreed with plaintiffs that the department violated the National Environmental Policy Act by failing to conduct a proper alternatives analysis after it expanded production at the Savannah River and Los Alamos National Laboratory sites.

But the court rejected four other claims highlighting the plaintiffs’ concerns about the effect on nuclear waste storage and transportation, as ...