DOE still undecided on appeal of liability ruling

Greg Harman

Thursday, Sept. 21, 2000 | 11:21 a.m.

The Department of Energy has not decided whether it will appeal a federal appeals court decision that allows four companies with nuclear power plants in New England to sue the department for the cost of storing high-level radioactive fuel at their power plants.

DOE attorney Mary Ann Sullivan said the agency -- which argued the delay "unavoidable" -- has until Oct. 16 to decide if it wants to appeal the ruling.

"The department recognizes its liability for these delay costs," Sullivan said in a phone interview Wednesday.

The Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 agreed to remove and dispose of utilities deadly spent fuel by 1998. That date came and went as debate over the suitability of Yucca Mountain, the sole disposal site under consideration, continued.

But the actual dollar amount associated with that delay, which has stranded 40,000 tons of spent nuclear fuel at reactor locations in 31 states, is disputed.

The Nuclear Energy Institute, the nuclear industry's mouthpiece, estimates the cost passed on to the utilities for the DOE's failure to open a disposal site at $50 billion. Sullivan said that if Yucca is opened in 2010 that figure would be closer to $2 billion or $3 billion.

Meanwhile 11 more cases filed with the federal appeals court by other utility companies are pending.