Three companies that used to operate New England power plants were to meet Wednesday to consider a federal settlement offer in a lawsuit over spent nuclear fuel, a Friday court filing shows.
The board of directors for Connecticut Yankee Atomic Power Company, Maine Yankee Atomic Power Company, and Yankee Atomic Electric Company will jointly consider whether to accept the still-undisclosed terms of the federal settlement, according to a joint status report filed with the U.S. Court of Claims.
The former Yankee operators sued the Department of Energy in 2021 for failing to remove spent fuel from the three plants from 2017 to 2020. The companies collectively sought $149 million in damages from DOE. It is not the first time the Yankee companies have successfully collected from the government.
The feds are also vetting the settlement, to which the parties in the suit tentatively agreed on Sept. 9.
Settlement funds for spent fuel lawsuits, routine since the government failed to build a permanent repository for such material, come from the U.S. judgment fund, not DOE’s budget.
The federal government and the Yankee companies have until Jan. 13 to settle the lawsuit, otherwise it will go to trial.
Connecticut Yankee operated the Connecticut Yankee Nuclear Power Plant in Haddam Neck, Ct., until 2007. Maine Yankee operated the Maine Yankee Nuclear Power Plant in Wiscasset, Maine, until 1996. Yankee Atomic Electric operated the Yankee Rowe Nuclear Power Station in Rowe, Mass., until 1992.
As of September 2023, the government had paid nearly $11 billion out of the judgment fund for breaches of the standard contract, according to DOE data.