Utilities Rebuffed by US Supreme Court in Nuclear Fuel Fight

["Sandy Perle" <sandyfl@earthlink.net>]

Utilities Rebuffed by US Supreme Court in Nuclear Fuel Fight
  
Washington, March 6 (Bloomberg) -- Consolidated Edison Inc. and three 
other utilities failed at the U.S. Supreme Court to revive a lawsuit 
seeking to limit the fees the Energy Department can charge for 
storage of spent nuclear fuel. 

The suit was one of several being pressed by utilities in a 
multibillion-dollar feud with the federal government over highly 
radioactive material sitting at commercial reactor sites around the 
country. 

The companies sought to bar the Energy Department from using its 
inability to arrange a permanent disposal site as the basis for 
increasing fees. The department already has collected more than $13 
billion, money designed to pay for a final storage facility. 

The case involved CMS Energy Corp., RGS Energy Group Inc. and PG&E 
Corp., as well as Consolidated Edison. 

Nuclear power companies are eager to rid themselves of the expensive 
burden of storing the spent fuel in cooling pools and concrete casks 
at reactor sites. In some cases, removal of the waste is the only 
obstacle keeping utilities from decommissioning obsolete reactors. 

Utilities claim the Energy Department breached contracts with them 
when it failed to begin removing the fuel on schedule in 1998. In a 
series of suits, the companies have tried to force the department to 
start removing the waste or pay damages. 

The companies lodged the latest case in a federal appeals court in 
Washington. The court threw out the case in two-page order, saying 
all the issues either had been resolved in a previous suit or were no 
longer relevant. 

Government officials are struggling to develop a plan for the spent 
fuel. Although the Senate recently passed a bill that would require 
the government to manage the waste at the power plants until it can 
be permanently stored, the Clinton administration has promised a 
veto. 

While officials are studying Nevada's Yucca Mountain as a permanent 
repository, that site won't be ready for at least a decade, if at 
all. 

Eleven utilities, including Northern State Power Co., separately are 
seeking to have the government pay damages ranging from $70 million 
to $1.5 billion. 

The case is Consolidated Edison Co. of New York v. U.S. Department of 
Energy, 99-766. 

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Sandy Perle					Tel:(714) 545-0100 / (800) 548-5100   				    	
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