Nikki Haley: Don’t ship nuclear material to SC

South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley is calling on the Department of Energy to stop a shipment of nuclear material that is scheduled to be stored in her state, according to CNN.

{mosads}In a letter to Secretary Ernest Moniz on Wednesday, Haley demanded that the agency “stop shipment or re-route” about 730 pounds of weapons grade plutonium being transported from Japan.

“Continued shipments of plutonium into our state puts South Carolina at risk for becoming a permanent dumping ground for nuclear materials. It is imperative to the safety of our citizens and our environment that South Carolina not allow this to happen,” Haley said in the letter.

The shipment was agreed upon between the two countries during the 2014 Nuclear Security Summit in an effort improve nuclear security worldwide. The U.S. plans to convert the material into “less sensitive forms,” according to a White House statement.

“We are aware of Governor Haley’s letter. For security reasons we do not comment on the operational details of our nuclear material shipments,” Francie Israeli, an Energy Department spokeswoman, told CNN.

“The importance of keeping nuclear materials out of the hands of terrorists is clear today more than ever,” Israeli added. “The Department of Energy will continue to fulfill our mission to protect the security of the United States.”