U.S. states ask DOE to suspend $6.5 billion of nuclear fees

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

Wednesday September 9, 6:19 pm Eastern Time

WASHINGTON, Sept 9 (Reuters) - A coalition of 24 states on 
Wednesday asked new U.S. Energy Secretary Bill Richardson to 
suspend collection of $6.5 billion in nuclear waste fund
fees until the Department of Energy actually starts removing waste.

On behalf of 68 state utility regulators, the Minnesota Department 
of Public Service said the states asked Richardson to limit
payment of the nuclear waste fund fees for any given year to each 
utility's share of those funds appropriated by Congress,
preventing a siphoning off of the consumer payments.

``Payment of the unappropriated portion of the fee (now 84 cents on 
the dollar) would be deferred until the DOE fulfills its
obligation to remove nuclear waste from electric power plants,'' said 
the Minnesota office statement, which summarized the letter
to Richardson.

The DOE didn't comment on the Richardson letter.

Earnings on accumulated, deferred nuclear-waste-fund payments 
exceeding the U.S. Treasury rate would be retained to benefit
consumers.

``By keeping payments out of the U.S. Treasury, we stop Congress 
from spending the unappropriated portion on other things. This
would preserve the equivalent of $90 million of waste-disposal 
funding for each of the 73 power plants from which nuclear waste
must be removed,'' said Minnesota Public Service Commissioner 
Kris Sanda.

The move by the states was the latest salvo in an ongoing battle to 
force the DOE to start removing tons of hazardous waste from
nuclear power plants owned by electric utilities.

Last month, a group of 36 states petitioned the U.S. Supreme 
Court to mandate that the DOE ship the waste to a permanent
storage facility. The states believe a 1982 federal law ordered the 
DOE to start disposing of spent nuclear fuel from commercial
nuclear power plants no later than Jan. 31, 1998.

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.

The Supreme Court hasn't acted yet on the states' petition.

The states alleged that after 16 years of collecting nuclear waste 
fund fees, the federal government has received $15 billion in
payments by U.S. electricity consumers.

In turn, the states charged that Congress has rolled most of the 
money into the federal government's general fund for spending on
other programs, with DOE spending only $5 billion of the sum to 
build a national waste facility at Yucca Mountain in Nevada.

``Since 1982, over $7 billion of NWF (nuclear waste fund) payments 
have been diverted. An additional $6.5 billion, including interest, will 
be diverted between now and 2010, the earliest date DOE says it 
will begin waste disposal,'' the Minnesota statement said.

Earlier this year, the Energy Department offered to defer collection 
of the fees in exchange for the utilities surrendering all
present and future legal rights over the federal government's 
obligation to dispose of nuclear waste.

The states said the Richardson letter ``in no way alters DOE's 
statutory and contractual obligations to transport, store and dispose
of spent nuclear fuels from power plants.''

The states reserved the right to continue court action against the 
DOE.


------------------
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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