Jeremy L. Dillon
RW Monitor
10/24/2014
Duke Energy Progress and Duke Energy Florida, both subsidiaries of Duke Energy, last week filed the “third round” of litigation against the Department of Energy in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims over DOE’s failure to remove spent nuclear fuel from the utility’s nuclear stations. Previously, Duke successfully sued DOE twice for approximately $200 million in total for the time frame of 1998 to 2005 and 2006 to 2010 for its failure to follow the Nuclear Waste Policy Act. According to the filing, Duke alleges that DOE’s failure does not come from a lack of resources or ability. “Defendant’s failure to act has not been the result of technical inability, legal impediment, or inadequate resources,” the filing said. “The Nuclear Waste Fund has a substantial balance from prior receipts, which far exceeds government expenditures for spent fuel storage activities. There are ample funds that have been collected to enable DOE to comply with its contractual obligations. As a direct and proximate result of the Defendant’s breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing, Plaintiffs have suffered and will continue to suffer damages.” Duke did not return calls for further comment. The Department of Justice did not return calls for comment.
Duke did not list an amount they are seeking for this round of litigation, but did say it would seek “an amount to be determined in further proceedings.” Duke operates three nuclear power stations in North Carolina (Brunswick and Harris) and one in South Carolina (Robinson), and it owns a majority stake in the recently closed Crystal River Plant in Florida. Under the NWPA, DOE is required to deal with the high level waste generated by commercial nuclear reactors, but due to the shuttering of the Yucca Mountain geological repository in 2010 by the Obama Administration, DOE has not been able to fulfil its obligations. Payouts in total to utilities have ballooned to approximately $2.7 billion, with litigation to continue for the foreseeable future.
