U.S states ask Court to force nuclear waste removal

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

WASHINGTON, Aug 4 (Reuters) - A group of 36 states on Tuesday 
asked the U.S. Supreme Court to force the
Department of Energy to remove tons of radioactive waste from 
nuclear power plants owned by electric utilities.

The states charged the DOE with not fulfilling its obligations under 
a 1982 law to ship the waste to a permanent storage facility,
and said billions of dollars collected from utilities by the agency for 
that purpose have been squandered.

``Federal courts have already ruled that DOE is absolutely 
obligated, physically able, and legally authorized to start removing
nuclear waste from our states,'' said Kris Sanda, Minnesota Public 
Service Commissioner and member of the Nuclear Waste
Strategy Coalition.

The states said a 1982 law mandated the DOE to start disposing of 
spent nuclear fuel from commercial nuclear power plants
no later than January 31 of this year.

DOE was also charged with neglecting consumers by not using 
fees tacked on to their power bills for the intended purpose of
waste removal. The 1982 act created the DOE's Office of Civilian 
Radioactive Waste Management, and required consumers
to pay one tenth of a cent per kilowatt hour of electricity generated 
by nuclear energy.

``After 16 years and $15 billion in payments by America's 
electricity consumers, DOE refused to begin removing the high-level
radioactive waste as scheduled, saying it needs at least another 12 
years to get ready,'' said David Sampsel, spokesman for the
Minnesota Department of Public Service.

Sampsel said Congress has rolled most of the fee money into the 
general fund for spending on other programs, with the DOE
spending only $5 billion of the sum to build a national waste facility 
at Yucca Mountain in Nevada.

The DOE refused to comment on the states' petition to the 
Supreme Court, saying they had not yet seen the order.

The states are specifically asking the Supreme Court to affirm that 
DOE must dispose of the waste, and offer a ``remedy'' to
enforce action, possibly placing the user fees in an escrow 
account, Sampsel said.

States said nuclear waste remains stranded at 73 locations in 34 
states, pending federal removal.

Earlier this year a number of nuclear utilities filed a lawsuit with the 
federal court, suing the DOE to start removing radioactive
waste from their facilities.

The utilities wanted to suspend payments into the special fund if 
the waste plan was not started.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Colombia reaffirmed 
last November that the DOE was obliged to take the waste,
but also suggested the utilities estimate the damages and costs 
resulting from its failure to meet the deadline.

The DOE's response was to pay the costs from the $15 billion fund 
into which the utilities have been paying.

The utilities and a number of states have pushed for the DOE to 
create a temporary storage sight, but the Clinton administration
opposes such a move, saying it would divert resources from a long-
term repository. 

------------------
Sandy Perle
Technical Director
ICN Dosimetry Division
ICN Plaza
3300 Hyland Avenue
Costa Mesa, CA 92626
Office: (800) 548-5100 x2306 
Fax:    (714) 668-3149
  
sandyfl@earthlink.net
sperle@icnpharm.com

ICN Dosimetry Website:
http://www.dosimetry.com

Personal Website:
http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/1205

"The object of opening the mind, as of opening 
the mouth, is to close it again on something solid"
              - G. K. Chesterton -

The opinions expressed are solely, absolutely, positively, definitely those of the author, and NOT my employer
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