In line with the results of similar lawsuits filed by other nuclear plant owners, a judge ruled Thursday that the federal government must compensate the Sacramento Municipal Utility District for spent fuel storage costs at the decommissioned Rancho Seco nuclear plant.
The utility argued that the government's failure to complete a permanent repository for nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain left it bearing the cost to store the reactor's spent fuel on site. The suit sought $80 million in waste storage expenses from 1992 to 2009, KERO news reported, although the Court of Federal Claims judge awarded only $35 million, reasoning that moving fuel assemblies from the spent fuel pool to dry casks in 2004 saved the plaintiff money. The Bakersfield, Calif., TV station quoted a utility district lawyer as saying it might appeal the verdict or seek a settlement with the government.
Following a series of referendums, the Babcock & Wilcox reactor at Rancho Seco was closed in 1989. According to storenuclearfuel.com, its 493 assemblies were moved into 21 Transnuclear NUHOMS casks at an on-site pad.