FILE - In this Nov. 20, 2013 file photo, radioactive waste sealed in large stainless steel canisters is stored under five feet of concrete in a storage building at the Savannah River Site near Aiken, S.C. Nevada and South Carolina are jostling for a home-field advantage of sorts in a federal court battle that could result in a metric ton of weapons-grade plutonium being stored 70 miles from Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Stephen B. Morton, File)
RENO — A federal judge has denied Nevada’s latest request to immediately block all future shipments of weapons-grade plutonium to a national security site north of Las Vegas.
U.S. District Court Judge Miranda Du denied the state’s request for a temporary restraining order on Thursday, a day after the Energy Department revealed it already has shipped one-half metric ton of the highly radioactive material from South Carolina to Nevada.
The judge in Reno says she will allow to proceed on a regular schedule proceedings related to the merits of a lawsuit Nevada filed in November seeking to block plans the Energy Department approved in August to transfer a full metric ton of plutonium to Nevada.
The department disclosed for the first time Wednesday it secretly trucked half that much to the site near Las Vegas sometime before November and said it doesn’t intend to ship any more there.