Butte County, Idaho has already tried and failed to convince federal courts the locality is entitled to “impact payments” because of ongoing storage of spent nuclear fuel at the Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory, according to Justice Department legal papers filed Monday.
“Plaintiff already tested—and lost—its theory that it was entitled to impact assistance payments in a 2019 lawsuit” filed with the Court of Federal Claims, the Justice Department said in its brief filed Monday in the U.S. District Court for Idaho.
The Court of Federal Claims dismissed Butte County’s monetary damages claim basically because it was filed too late. The latest such a claim could have been filed was “in 1990 when DOE’s authority to enter into interim storage contracts with civilian nuclear power generators expired unused,” under the Nuclear Waste Policy Act, according to the government filing.
Butte County contested the claims court decision before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, which ruled against the county on different grounds, according to Justice. While the Nuclear Waste Policy Act said DOE could make impact payments from a federal fund, such outlays are not required, the appeals court held.
The government brief was filed by Brian Boynton, principal deputy assistant U.S. attorney general. Idaho National Laboratory’s storage of naval spent nuclear fuel since 1957 — and since the 1980s for material from the damaged Three Mile Island-2 reactor core in Pennsylvania — has been “lawful, safe, and pursuant to the Department of Energy’s authorities arising from the Atomic Energy Act,” according to the federal brief.
The Idaho National Laboratory “estimates that it is the sixth largest employer in Idaho and adds more than $3 billion dollars to Idaho’s economy,” according to the government brief. The feds also argue Butte County’s complaint is barred by the statute of limitations and fails to state a claim that would allow relief to be granted.
Butte County sued Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm in federal district court in March, claiming the national lab has been used as a default nuclear waste repository and the community should be compensated by DOE for the social and economic costs. The county’s lawsuit also said DOE is currently looking to pay localities for merely discussing being a host site for interim waste storage.
