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US govt embroiled in lawsuits over nuclear wastes

The litigation itself has been expensive for the government. DOJ has spent $29 million in attorney costs, $111 million on experts and $52 million in litigation support costs, with no end in sight.

DOJ in Settlement Talks for Nuclear Waste Cases, The BLT: The Blog of Legal Times, David Ingram. July 27, 2010 After more than a decade of litigation with nuclear utilities nationwide, the U.S. Department of Justice is interested in settling claims related to the storage of spent nuclear fuel.The utilities have been suing the federal government for breach of contract since the late 1990s. Back then, the government was supposed to have begun accepting nuclear waste for long-term storage at a site such as the Yucca Mountain repository in Nevada. But it has yet to accept any, leaving the companies to pay ongoing storage costs.
A total of 72 lawsuits have been filed, of which 22 have reached judgment in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims and 11 have settled. The government’s liability so far is $2 billion, DOJ says, and that’s expected to grow in light of the Obama administration’s 2009 decision to abandon the Yucca Mountain project……
The litigation itself has been expensive for the government. DOJ has spent $29 million in attorney costs, $111 million on experts and $52 million in litigation support costs, with no end in sight.

DOJ in Settlement Talks for Nuclear Waste Cases – The BLT: The Blog of Legal Times

July 28, 2010 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Legal, USA | antinuclear, depleted, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear wastes, radiation, radioactive, reactors, uranium