COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) - The state of South Carolina is suing the U.S. Energy Department and others over federal plans to shut down a proposed plant to turn nuclear weapons material into fuel for commercial nuclear reactors.
Gov. Nikki Haley and South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson announced the lawsuit at a news conference in Columbia on Tuesday afternoon.
The lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Aiken names the Energy Department, Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz and the National Nuclear Security Administration as defendants.
The lawsuit accuses the agency of using money Congress ordered to be used to build the project to shut it down. The project to turn weapons-grade plutonium into commercial reactor fuel is billions over budget.
An Energy Department spokesman did not immediately respond to telephone and email messages Tuesday afternoon.
