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 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, it had paid out more than $7 billion from its judgment fund.
The plaintiffs are in total seeking nearly $179 million connected to costs for dry storage of the used fuel at the Vogtle and Hatch plants in Georgia and the Farley facility in Alabama. Of that, they 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 $19,687. The plaintiffs ultimately seemed to accept the government figure, and the Campbell-Smith ordered that amount to be paid.
The judge declined to issue a partial final judgment for the remaining, contested $35.6 million in the case.
