Court Rules Department of Energy Owes $7 Million for Nuclear Fuel Storage

In a case that may prompt policymakers to action on spent nuclear fuel storage, a U.S. Federal Claims Court has ruled that the Department of Energy (DOE) owes Holtec Palisades LLC’s nearly $7 million in damages to cover fuel storage costs at two spent nuclear fuel facilities. Holtec alleged that it incurred those costs because the government breached its contractual obligation to store the fuel, as outlined in Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982, in which Congress established a program for the disposal of spent nuclear fuel and highly radioactive waste. 

A judge in the US Court of Federal Claims granted Holtec’s request for partial summary judgment on its claimed damages and denied the DOE’s cross motion for summary judgment. Consumers first sued the government for damages arising out of the government’s breach of the Standard Contract in 2002.  

“Holtec’s expenses are well documented and foreseeable, and the government raises no genuine dispute of material fact,” wrote Judge Molly Silfen. Holtec acquired the two facilities from Entergy Nuclear Palisades in June 2022, and has continued litigation in the case already underway by Entergy. 

Holtec sought summary judgement on $6,888,637 to cover security and storage costs for used fuel at Palisades Nuclear Plant and the Big Rock Point Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation from January 2020 to June 2022.  

The Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 created a contract where the Energy Department was obligated to start disposing of nuclear waste and highly radioactive materials by January 1998. Since the department has not accepted spent nuclear fuel from Palisades or Big Rock, the plant owners have “had to pay for that storage for the past two and a half decades despite the government’s promise,” the court ruled. 

To read the full decision in Holtec Palisades, LLC vs. the United States, visit: https://ecf.cofc.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/show_public_doc?2022cv0713-75-0