Savannah River Site plutonium has been removed from Nevada National Security Site

Sep. 20—The plutonium that was shipped from the Savannah River Site to Nevada that ignited a legal battle between the Silver State and the federal government has been removed.

U.S. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., announced Friday that the National Nuclear Security Administration had completed the removal of a half of a metric ton of plutonium from the Nevada National Security Site four years ahead of schedule.

The Nevada National Security Site is located about 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas. It was established in the early 1950s for the testing of nuclear weapons.

"When I heard that the Trump Administration secretly shipped weapons-grade plutonium to our state, I acted immediately to ensure it was removed," Cortez Masto said in a news release. "I have not stopped pushing to get this done, and I'm proud to announce the removal has been completed four years ahead of schedule."

The plutonium was shipped from SRS to the Nevada National Security Site by the National Nuclear Security Administration to comply with a court order that mandated the administration remove 1 metric ton, around 2,200 pounds, from SRS by January 2020.

The court order came from the litigation over the Department of Energy's failure to begin operations of the Mixed-Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility or to remove plutonium from SRS by a certain date. The litigation would ultimately result in a $600 million settlement paid by the federal government to South Carolina to resolve the litigation.

The plutonium leaving South Carolina was ultimately to end up at the Los Alamos National Laboratory with half of the plutonium being temporarily stored at the Nevada National Security Site and the other half at the Pantex facility in Texas.

When the National Nuclear Security Administration announced the plan, several Nevada elected officials including Gov. Brian Sandoval, U.S. Sen. Dean Heller, R-Nev., and U.S. Reps Dina Titus and Ruben Kihuen vowed to oppose the plan.

Eventually, lawsuits were filed over the plan.

Cortez Masto eventually placed a hold on all Department of Energy nominees until she reached a deal with then Energy Secretary Rick Perry to remove the plutonium from the state beginning in 2021 and ending in 2026.

Jill Hruby, National Nuclear Security administrator, called Cortez Masto on Friday to let her know the plutonium had been removed four years early, according to an article in the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

The plutonium is now at Los Alamos, according to the Review-Journal article.