Published Tuesday, April 30, 2019 | 3:02 p.m.
Updated Tuesday, April 30, 2019 | 3:32 p.m.
CARSON CITY — The clash between members of Nevada’s congressional delegation and the Department of Energy appears to be at an end — or at least the beginning to an end.
U.S. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., today announced an agreement with Energy Secretary Rick Perry that a half metric ton of plutonium secretly shipped into the state last year will be removed by 2026, with the process beginning in 2021.
Earlier this year, the Department of Energy revealed it had moved the weapons-grade plutonium from South Carolina to a government site north of Las Vegas. While Nevada had asked a court to temporarily block the shipment, the Energy Department moved the waste before an injunction could be issued.
“While I thank Secretary Perry for working with me on this issue, make no mistake that we will have additional fights ahead of us,” Cortez Masto said in a statement.
“I’ll continue to do all I can to hold the Department of Energy accountable and ensure we fight against any attempt to ship nuclear waste to our state,” she said.
Cortez Masto had been holding up the confirmation of presidential nominees to the Department of Energy over the issue but has agreed to release all holds on nominees.
Cortez Masto said she worked with Gov. Steve Sisolak, state Attorney General Aaron Ford, U.S. Sen. Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., and Nevada’s federal delegation to secure the agreement.
The pact calls for any further plutonium shipments from South Carolina will go to a waste isolation plant in New Mexico. The plant, located in a salt bed near Carlsbad, New Mexico, is used for the storage of nuclear-contaminated waste.
Sisolak responded to the agreement with a tweet in which he said he would continue to make sure Perry kept his promise.
