Settlement Talks Collapse in South Carolina's $200-Million Plutonium Lawsuit

摘要

South Carolina and the Department of Energy said last week they had failed to settle a $200million lawsuit over the federal government's failure to begin removing weapon-usableplutonium from the state by Jan. 1, 2016.The U.S. Court of Federal Claims case had been on hold for about a year, during which DoEmade only a single “lowball” settlement offer that South Carolina “rejected out of hand,”according to a status report filed Friday by the state's legal team.In the status report, South Carolina asked Judge Margaret Sweeney to grant a motion forsummary judgment and award the state the $200 million in fines it says DoE owes for failing tobegin removing around 10 metric tons of surplus weapon-usuable plutonium from theSavannah River Site.