A federal court has awarded two southern utilities over $143 million for the U.S. government’s continued failure to meet its legal obligation to remove used reactor fuel from their nuclear power facilities.
The June 12 ruling from U.S. Court of Federal Claims Judge Patricia Campbell-Smith was made public on July 3. The case consolidates lawsuits filed separately in March 2014 by Georgia Power Co. and Alabama Power Co., both of which are owned by Southern Co.
This is the latest in a long series of lawsuits filed by nuclear power providers around the country, seeking reimbursement for costs incurred since the U.S. Department of Energy missed its congressionally mandated Jan. 31, 1998, deadline to begin taking spent fuel for disposal. The federal agency still does not have any means of permanent disposal or temporary storage of the radioactive waste. As of last year, the U.S. government had paid out more than $7 billion to nuclear utilities from its judgment fund.
The plaintiffs in this case are in total seeking nearly $179 million from the federal government connected to costs for dry storage of the used fuel at the Vogtle and Hatch plants in Georgia and the Farley facility in Alabama. The companies said the government’s inaction required them to build and manage dry storage pads for spent fuel, along with associated operations, at the three sites.
That would not have been necessary had the Department of Energy hewed to its commitments within the Standard Contract it signed with nuclear power providers under the 1982 Nuclear Waste Policy Act, according to the lawsuit. Under the contract, commercial generators of used nuclear fuel commit to paying for preparation, transport, and disposal of the material, which DOE would take title to starting at the end of January 1998.
Alabama Power and Georgia Power requested summary judgment for just over $143 million in expenses they deemed “undisputed” because the damages were “foreseeable in both magnitude and type”; were “caused by the Government’s breach of the Standard Contract” for used fuel disposition; and have been determined “to a reasonable certainty.”
The federal government largely accepted that case, arguing only that its figure for undisputed costs was slightly lower than that initially submitted by the power companies: $143,153,757 compared to $143,173,453, a difference of $19,696. The plaintiffs ultimately seemed to accept the government figure, and the Campbell-Smith ordered that amount to be paid.
Alabama Power will receive nearly $31.2 million for costs at the Farley plant, while George Power will recoup over $43.9 million for Hatch and $67.9 million for Vogtle.
“Defendant’s liability for partial breach of the Standard Contract has long since been established,” she wrote in the order. “Defendant does not dispute, and therefore presumably would not appeal, an award on a significant portion of plaintiffs’ damages claim.”
The judge declined to issue a partial final judgment for the remaining, contested $35.6 million in the case.
