The U.S. government is appealing a Court of Federal Claims ruling that it should pay a combined $145 million to the operators of a trio of retired nuclear power plants in New England for the Department of Energy’s failure to remove spent fuel from the reactors.
Lawyers with the U.S. attorney general’s office filed a notice of appeal Jan. 28, saying the government will contest the ruling before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.
The government is challenging a judgment handed down by the court Nov. 21 in a case involving the Connecticut Yankee Atomic Power Co. and its sister operators for Maine Yankee and Yankee power plants.
The Federal Claims court had ordered Connecticut Yankee be paid about $52.8 million, Maine Yankee $48.4 million and Yankee Atomic Electric $43.8 million.
The order from Judge Thompson Dietz involved a five-year period from January 2017 through January 2021 and was subject to the federal government appeal of the ruling granting the Yankees’ motion for partial summary judgment.