Fresh off defeat in a related federal appeal, Nevada's attorney general says he intends to ask a U.S. judge in Reno to order the Trump administration to remove the weapons-grade plutonium it secretly shipped last year to a site near Las Vegas.

Aaron Ford says in new filings in U.S. District Court that he'll continue to fight to protect Nevada's citizens and environment from the "ongoing harm" caused by the Energy Department's clandestine shipment from South Carolina.

A three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed the state's appeal on Tuesday challenging a judge's earlier refusal to ban new shipments of the radioactive material to Nevada.

The appellate court said it's a moot point because the material already is in Nevada and Energy Secretary Rick Perry has promised no more will be sent.