States consider suit if DOE refuses spent fuel

Journal Article · Wed Jun 01 04:00:00 EDT 1994 · Nuclear News

OSTI ID:494099

Zeyher, A

Michigan, Florida, and Minnesota were joined by Wisconsin on April 21 in the Nuclear Waste Strategy Coalition (NWSC), a group of utilities, state regulators, and state attorneys general that have banded together to decide what to do about the Department of Energy`s apparent intention to renege on its obligation to begin taking title to spent nuclear fuel by January 31, 1998. According to Ronald Russell, a commissioner on the Michigan Public Service Commission and cofounder of the NWSC, another six states have expressed interest in joining the coalition. {open_quotes}We`re looking at encouraging the DOE to step up to its legal responsibility to take nuclear spent fuel by 1998,{close_quotes} Russell said. The objectives of the coalition include asking the DOE to support privatization of nuclear storage, to review the management of the final repository program in order to make it more efficient, and to identify legislative changes that the DOE might feel are necessary for it to accomplish its charge. The NWSC is also considering filing a lawsuit in response to the DOE`s {open_quotes}anticipatory breach of an executory contract.{close_quotes} The NWSC and others feel that the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 and the related standard contracts between the DOE and the utilities form a legal contract for the DOE to take the spent fuel on the agreed upon date.

• OSTI ID: 494099
• Journal Information: Nuclear News, Journal Name: Nuclear News Journal Issue: 8 Vol. 37; ISSN NUNWA8; ISSN 0029-5574
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

05 NUCLEAR FUELS
29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY
LEGAL ASPECTS
NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS
SPENT FUEL ELEMENTS
SPENT FUEL STORAGE
US DOE