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SC officials ask Trump to save troubled nuclear fuel project

South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster and the state's congressional delegation are urging President Donald Trump to reconsider his administration's plan to shut down a half-built nuclear fuel facility in their state

SC officials ask Trump to save troubled nuclear fuel project Image Source : APSC officials ask Trump to save troubled nuclear fuel project

WASHINGTON (AP) — South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster and the state's congressional delegation are urging President Donald Trump to reconsider his administration's plan to shut down a half-built nuclear fuel facility in their state.

A federal appeals court last week allowed the Energy Department to go forward with plans to close the multi-billion dollar facility at the Savannah River Site near Aiken.

Closing the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility could cost hundreds of jobs and waste more than $17 billion already spent. The project is intended to reprocess weapons-grade plutonium into fuel for commercial reactors. But it is billions of dollars over budget and decades away from completion.

Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, a close Trump ally, said before a White House meeting on Thursday that shuttering the so-called MOX project was a "stupid decision."

Disclaimer: This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Associated Press (AP) wire.