Hemscott: Court awards $143M to reactor companies
WASHINGTON (AFX) - The owners of three closed nuclear power
plants have been awarded $143 million because the government has
failed to take away their used reactor fuel rods.
The award by the U.S. Federal Court of Claims settles a
long-standing legal fight waged by operators of the three
reactors in Maine, Connecticut and Massachusetts.
It also could foreshadow a series of additional financial awards
to operators of reactors nationwide who have argued the federal
government broke contractual agreements that promised the waste
would be taken by 1998.
The award, granted by Court of Claims Judge James Merow on
Saturday, was unsealed Wednesday.
It gives $32.9 million in damages to Yankee Atomic Electric Co.,
operator of the Yankee Rowe reactor in Massachusetts; $34.1
million to Connecticut Yankee Atomic Power Co., operator of
Connecticut Yankee reactor; and $75.8 million to Maine Yankee
Atomic Power Co.; operator of the Maine Yankee reactor.
The companies had asked for $177 million.
Michael Thomas, vice president and chief financial officer of
the three Yankee companies, said that while the monetary award
is 'very positive ... (it) does not solve the problem of used
nuclear fuel remaining at the plant sites.''We hope this ruling
will spur the U.S. Department of Energy to begin fulfilling its
obligation,' said Thomas.
Federal courts previously have ruled that the Energy Department
was contractually obligated to begin taking used reactor fuel
from commercial power plants by 1998. But the ruling was the
first finding of a significant financial settlement.
The government missed the 1998 deadline because it doesn't have
any place to put the spent fuel. A proposed central repository
at Yucca Mountain in Nevada is way behind schedule in being
completed.
Once expected to open in 2010, the Yucca waste site has yet to
received a federal license and is not likely to be completed --
if licensed -- by 2018 at the earliest.
Copyright 2006 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This
Copyright 2006 Hemscott Group Limited.
Hemscott is the UK registered trademark of Hemscott Group
Limited.
WASHINGTON (AFX) - The owners of three closed nuclear power
plants have been awarded $143 million because the government has
failed to take away their used reactor fuel rods.
The award by the U.S. Federal Court of Claims settles a
long-standing legal fight waged by operators of the three
reactors in Maine, Connecticut and Massachusetts.
It also could foreshadow a series of additional financial awards
to operators of reactors nationwide who have argued the federal
government broke contractual agreements that promised the waste
would be taken by 1998.
The award, granted by Court of Claims Judge James Merow on
Saturday, was unsealed Wednesday.
It gives $32.9 million in damages to Yankee Atomic Electric Co.,
operator of the Yankee Rowe reactor in Massachusetts; $34.1
million to Connecticut Yankee Atomic Power Co., operator of
Connecticut Yankee reactor; and $75.8 million to Maine Yankee
Atomic Power Co.; operator of the Maine Yankee reactor.
The companies had asked for $177 million.
Michael Thomas, vice president and chief financial officer of
the three Yankee companies, said that while the monetary award
is 'very positive ... (it) does not solve the problem of used
nuclear fuel remaining at the plant sites.''We hope this ruling
will spur the U.S. Department of Energy to begin fulfilling its
obligation,' said Thomas.
Federal courts previously have ruled that the Energy Department
was contractually obligated to begin taking used reactor fuel
from commercial power plants by 1998. But the ruling was the
first finding of a significant financial settlement.
The government missed the 1998 deadline because it doesn't have
any place to put the spent fuel. A proposed central repository
at Yucca Mountain in Nevada is way behind schedule in being
completed.
Once expected to open in 2010, the Yucca waste site has yet to
received a federal license and is not likely to be completed --
if licensed -- by 2018 at the earliest.
Copyright 2006 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This
Copyright 2006 Hemscott Group Limited.
Hemscott is the UK registered trademark of Hemscott Group
Limited.
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