U.S. Supreme Court Won't Decide Nuclear Waste Case

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

Monday November 30 12:42 PM ET 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court Monday 
refused to get involved in a dispute involving the delay by the
Department of Energy in taking shipments of nuclear waste 
generated by electric utilities.

At issue was a U.S. appeals court ruling that refused to force the 
department to start accepting the high-level radioactive waste
piling up at power plants, but allowed utilities to seek 
compensation from the government.

The Energy Department had been required under a 1982 law to 
start picking up the spent fuel by Jan. 1, 1998, but it had no place
to put the fuel and argued that it should not be held liable for 
missing the deadline.

The appeals court rejected the department's argument, claiming 
that ``unavoidable delays'' have prevented it from building a
central storage site for the waste.

The appeals court ruled last year that the utilities' contract with the 
department provided for payment of damages over the failure
to meet the deadline.

The administration is evaluating whether Yucca Mountain in Nevada 
would be a suitable permanent site for the waste, but it is not
expected to open until 2010. Utilities want the administration to 
build a temporary site in Nevada for the waste, which has
accumulated at some 70 plants nationwide.

A lawsuit filed by more than 30 states and state public utility 
commissions and by more than 40 utilities sought to force the
department to take the waste.

The states and utility commissions appealed to the Supreme Court 
over the part of the ruling that refused to order the department
to begin accepting the waste.

The Clinton administration appealed over the part of the ruling that 
barred the department from invoking the ''unavoidable delays''
provision of the contract it had with the utilities.

The administration said only the court of federal claims has the 
authority to decide such contract disputes.

But the Supreme Court, without any comment or dissent, rejected 
both appeals. refusing to hear the case. 

Sandy Perle
E-Mail: sandyfl@earthlink.net 
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 -
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