§6154 Disposition of Surplus Defense Plutonium at Savannah River Site, Aiken, South Carolina

Summary

The Secretary of Energy must talk with the Governor of South Carolina before making decisions or plans about how to handle extra defense plutonium at the Savannah River Site in Aiken, South Carolina. For every shipment to that site, the Secretary must tell the congressional defense committees at least 30 days before the shipment starts. The Secretary must write a disposal plan for the plutonium already at the site and for plutonium that will be sent there later. The plan must review the options, name the preferred option, give costs, a fast construction schedule with milestones, and firm funding dates for any facilities required under DOE’s decision document dated January 14, 1997, and explain how the material could be removed from the site if needed. If the Secretary decides not to build the immobilization plant or the mixed oxide fuel (MOX) plant at Savannah River, the Secretary must make a plan showing where that plutonium will go instead. Both plans must be sent to Congress by February 1, 2002. If they are not sent by that date, the Secretary cannot ship plutonium to the Savannah River Site until the plans are submitted. That rule does not stop shipments to other sites. Each year, when sending the Department of Energy budget materials to Congress, the Secretary must include a report saying whether the money requested for fissile materials disposition will let the Department meet its disposal commitments at the Savannah River Site and for other disposition work that year.