The Yucca Mountain Litigation: Breach of Contract Under the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982

Over 25 years ago, Congress addressed growing concerns regarding nuclear waste management by calling for federal collection of spent nuclear fuel (SNF) for safe, permanent disposal. To this end, the Department of Energy (DOE) was authorized by statute to enter into contracts with nuclear power providers that required the DOE to gather and dispose of spent nuclear fuel in exchange for payments by the providers into the newly established Nuclear Waste Fund (NWF). Congress subsequently named Yucca Mountain in the State of Nevada as the sole candidate site for the underground geological storage of collected SNF. Congress also mandated that federal disposal begin no later than January 31, 1998. Over 10 years ago, DOE breached these contracts by failing to begin the acceptance and disposal of SNF by the statutory deadline established in the Nuclear Waste Policy Act (NWPA). As a result, nuclear utilities have been forced to spend hundreds of millions of dollars for on-site temporary storage of toxic SNF that was expected to be transferred to the federal government for storage and disposal.