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US Plutonium Production Plan Likely to Spur Legal Challenge

Associated Press

   ALBUQUERQUE, NEW MEXICO - The agency that oversees the United States'
   nuclear arsenal says it doesn't need to do any broad environmental
   reviews of a proposal that calls for ramping up production of plutonium
   triggers at federal installations in New Mexico and South Carolina.

   The National Nuclear Security Administration on Wednesday released a
   supplemental analysis related to the project, saying the determination
   was made after reviewing extensive documentation and public comments
   that were received last year.

   Nuclear watchdogs, government accountability advocates and other
   critics argue that the decision skirts requirements of the National
   Environmental Policy Act and a decades-old court order that included a
   mandate for an environmental review when the federal government
   embarked on plans to boost production to more than 80 of the nuclear
   cores a year.

   A key component of every nuclear weapon, most of the plutonium cores in
   the stockpile were produced in the 1970s and 1980s, according to the
   nuclear agency.

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