By Dan Klepal
The Cincinnati Enquirer

The Department of Energy told the state and federal environmental protection agencies Thursday that it will begin removing radioactive waste from one of three concrete silos at Fernald, despite a threatened legal challenge that could leave crews with nowhere to send the powdery material.

Bill Taylor, second-in-command at the $4.4 billion Fernald cleanup for the department, said in a letter that the removal could begin in mid-June. Taylor requested a response from the environmental protection agencies by June 11.

The move is risky because the Nevada attorney general has threatened a to file a federal lawsuit that could stop the shipments before they begin.

The rules governing the silos cleanup dictate that the removal and shipment of the waste must be a continuous process - the material cannot be stored outside of the silos at the Fernald site for even a short period of time.

It is unclear what energy officials will do if a judge shuts down the shipments to Nevada.

Jim Saric, a project manager over the Fernald site for the U.S. EPA, has said his agency will not grant any type of temporary permit that would allow for the short-term storage of the waste outside of the silos at Fernald.

But Saric could not say what the agency would do if it comes to that.

Nevada says the planned disposal of silos waste at the Nevada Test Site, 65 miles outside of Las Vegas, is unsafe and illegal.

Energy officials disagree, but their lawyers still are reviewing the legal arguments raised. Lawyers with the Energy Department have promised to give Nevada officials a 45-day notice before the first shipments begin.

Marta Adams, a senior assistant attorney general in Nevada, said her office has not received the 45-day notice. Adams has said the suit would be filed within days of her office receiving the notice.

"When we get the notice, we'll be in court," Adams said Thursday.

E-mail dklepal@enquirer.com