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NORTH AUGUSTA, S.C. (AP) -- Federal officials are meeting to discuss mixed-oxide fuel at an old nuclear weapons site in South Carolina

The U.S. Energy Department is holding a public hearing Tuesday at the North Augusta Municipal Center.

The Aiken Standard reports (http://bit.ly/UmVec4 ) the meeting is one of several the Energy Department is holding around the country to discuss an environmental impact statement for the MOX facility at the Savannah River Site.

Construction on the MOX facility began in 2007. Officials say the plant will be used to convert weapons grade plutonium into fuel that will be sold to run commercial power reactors.

The SRS complex once produced plutonium and tritium for atomic bombs. Officials say the nearly $5 billion MOX facility is on schedule and should be running in 2016.

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