Jeremy L. Dillon
RW Monitor
6/12/2015
The Sacramento Municipal Utility District filed this week in a federal court a third round of litigation against the Department of Energy for its failure to manage its spent nuclear fuel from the Rancho Seco nuclear power plant. The litigation is the latest in a long line of lawsuits against the United States for DOE’s failure to move the waste, as out outlined by the Nuclear Waste Policy Act. SMUD’s latest suit seeks repayment of costs incurred from 2010 to the present for the management of spent nuclear fuel at the Rancho Seco site, which ceased operations in 1989 after a community referendum voted to shut the plant down. “SMUD paid all required fees on time and in full,” SMUD’s suit said. “To date, however, DOE has failed to begin disposing of SNF from SMUD. DOE’s failure to perform its contractual duties constituted a breach of SMIJD’s contract and has caused SMUD to suffer significant damages.”
SMUD has successfully sued the government for NWPA breaches twice, earning well over $100 million in damages. The previous time frames covered damages from 1992 to 2003 and from 2004 to 2010. Under the NWPA, DOE is required to deal with the high level waste generated by commercial nuclear reactors, but DOE has not been able to fulfill its obligations since it shuttered the Yucca Mountain geological repository project in 2010. Payouts in total to utilities have ballooned to nearly $3 billion, with litigation to continue for the foreseeable future. DOE estimates its liabilities in court damages somewhere in the $23 billion to $27 billion range.
