Michele Kearney's Nuclear Wire: Federal circuit increases damages award against U.S. over spent nuclear waste disposal

Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Federal circuit increases damages award against U.S. over spent nuclear waste disposal

Affirming a U.S. Court of Federal Claims $142-million award to three utility companies in a breach of contract suit alleging that the U.S. government failed to accept and dispose of spent nuclear waste, the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals has also awarded an additional $17 million to one company for the costs of operating and maintaining a wet storage pool. Yankee Atomic Energy Co. v. United States, No. 11-5020 (Fed. Cir. 5/18/12).
Plaintiffs sought damages to compensate them for the government’s failure to accept and dispose of radioactive waste in violation of contracts entered into with the utility companies under the 1982 Nuclear Waste Policy Act (NW PA). The NW PA stated that a permanent repository for the radioactive waste would be available by 1998. In 2004, the lower court awarded the utilities more than $100 million to compensate them for the cost of building dry storage or an independent spent-fuel storage installation, and re-racking wet pools to increase storage capacity. On appeal, the Federal Circuit found that the trial court made its causation analysis without formally interpreting the contract between the government and the utilities and remanded the matter for further damages calculations.