The court holds that the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE's) amended contract with a nuclear power plant operator constituted a direct payment of Nuclear Waste Fund (NWF) monies and was unlawful under the Nuclear Waste Policy Act (NWPA). DOE entered into contracts with the nuclear power plants to fu...
The court denies several utilities' and states' broad request for a writ of mandamus that would require the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to begin disposing of spent nuclear fuel (SNF) by the Nuclear Waste Policy Act's (NWPA's) January 31, 1998, deadline. But the court precludes DOE from excusing ...
The court holds that the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) fulfilled its statutory obligations under the Nuclear Waste Policy Act (NWPA) to ensure that Nevada had sufficient funds enabling it to perform essential nuclear waste dump oversight activities at Yucca Mountain, Nevada. The court first holds ...
The court denies New Mexico's request for a preliminary injunction and construction of a 1992 injunction to prevent shipments of waste to the waste isolation pilot plant (WIPP) in that state. The court first holds that the state cannot prove a likelihood of success on the merits. A previous injuncti...
The court holds that the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) must prepare a new environmental assessment (EA) for the shipment of 118 spent nuclear fuel rods from Taiwan through the port of Hampton Roads, Virginia, to a processing facility on the Savannah River in South Carolina, because its 1991 EA for...
The court invalidates a 1999 U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) order governing the disposal of high-level radioactive waste (HLW) at the Hanford site in Washington, the INEEL facility in Idaho, and the Savannah River site in South Carolina. Part of the order defines a process by which HLW that meets c...
The Ninth Circuit held unripe nonprofit groups' action to obtain a declaration that a U.S. Department of Energy order that outlines the management of defense radioactive waste is invalid. Delayed review will not cause any real cognizable hardship, but intervention at this point would unduly interfer...
A district court granted the state of Washington's motion for partial summary judgment on its claim that the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) violated the Washington State Hazardous Waste Management Act (HWMA) when it decided to ship radioactive and hazardous mixed transuranic waste to the Hanford Nu...
The court preliminarily enjoins the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) from importing 409 spent nuclear fuel assemblies for storage at the Savannah River site in South Carolina until the court resolves on the merits South Carolina's claim under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) that an envir...
The Court of Federal Claims held that nuclear utilities were entitled to almost $57 million in mitigation expenses related to DOE’s failure to accept nuclear waste by the date set forth in the contract between the utilities and DOE. In their suit, the utilities sought, among other things, cost...