Every terrorist in the world wants a tiny piece of plutonium. Because that tiny piece of plutonium is the trigger he needs for a nuclear weapon. A nuclear weapon that would be far more devastating to the United States than the four hijacked airplanes that became fiery missiles.

At this time of significant terrorist threats, we need to put a higher priority on solving the problem of plutonium disposal and security. Throughout the Cold War, Rocky Flats, in Jefferson County, produced plutonium triggers for nuclear bombs. Today it is on an accelerated cleanup schedule, supposedly a showcase for how to clean up the country's entire nuclear weapons complex.

As part of the Rocky Flats cleanup, plutonium is being shipped to several treatment and storage facilities outside Colorado, including sites in New Mexico and Texas. More plutonium is scheduled to go to this month to the Savannah River Site in South Carolina. This critical piece of the plan is now in jeopardy as South Carolina balks at accepting Rocky Flats' waste without certain federal guarantees.

Earlier this year, Under Secretary of Energy, Robert Card, the former CEO of Kaiser-Hill, the cleanup contractor at Rocky Flats, assured both South Carolina and Colorado that each would get what it wanted. Thus, the Rocky Flats project could continue on schedule. South Carolina wanted plutonium treatment facilities and the jobs they would bring and a time line for ultimate disposal of the waste outside South Carolina. Colorado wanted the plutonium removed from Rocky Flats as promised and the cleanup completed on time. But the Bush Administration derailed the plan.

During the Clinton Administration, agreement was reached on storing and treating plutonium at Savannah River. Given the politics of shipping and storing nuclear waste, it was a fragile agreement. The Bush Administration reviewed the plan and dumped parts of it, thereby collapsing the entire deal between South Carolina, the federal government and states with nuclear weapons facilities, including Colorado.

As a result, the Rocky Flats cleanup faces indefinite delays. It's time to put the deal back together. This will take strong, focused leadership and the money to back it up. Here's why. No one wants nuclear waste stored in their states. Given the tense security environment following the September 11 attacks, transporting nuclear waste is even riskier than before. Nonetheless, having plutonium scattered at numerous sites around the country is an even greater security risk. There are simply more places for a terrorist to get plutonium.

The United States needs to treat and store plutonium in a limited number of locations with the highest attainable security. Given the political unpopularity of accepting another state's waste (even though it is, indeed, America's waste), the federal government will have to sweeten the pot to persuade any state to take the nuclear materials. For South Carolina, this means the jobs that treatment facilities could offer anda commitment to remove the plutonium from the state by a specific date.

Next, the Secretary of Energy, with the backing of President Bush, must get all the affected states together, including those on the transportation routes, to hammer out solutions to the political, security, transportation and ultimate disposal problems. This is no easy task. Any set of solutions will be very expensive. They will generate significant protests by citizens, environmentalists and politicians.

The alternative, however, is to leave plutonium and other nuclear waste scattered around the country. Security will be much more difficult and expensive. Accounting for all the waste will be far more complicated. The risk of theft will be much greater.

We can no longer afford a "not in my back yard" attitude about plutonium. We can't afford a federal government that breaks its promises. We risk a catastrophic attack or accident if nuclear materials are not stored safely and securely. If the Bush Administration doesn't take immediate leadership on this critical issue, the governors of the affected states should use their political influence to force the federal government to act. To wait and hope for a solution endangers all Americans.