Representatives from the nuclear industry and utility regulators have filed an update to their challenge to the Department of Energy’s continued collection of Nuclear Waste Fund fees in the face of the Yucca Mountain shutdown. “Until such time as there is a waste program whose costs can be assessed, the Court should direct DOE to comply with the NWPA by submitting to Congress a proposal to suspend further fee collection,” states the Oct. 20 brief by the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners and the Nuclear Energy Institute, submitted in response to a DOE brief. The parties filed the case in March 2011 with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit seeking suspension of the fee added to electricity ratepayer bills, which goes towards civilian waste disposal and is estimated to total $778 million in 2012.
The petitioners take aim at the brief filed by DOE in the case, noting that it buries its single reference to the $24 billion balance in the fund, and “nowhere does DOE acknowledge that the Fund has grown by another $2 billion since then. DOE fails to mention in its Brief the over $1 billion in interest annually added to the NWF absent ratepayer fees. DOE fails to mention in its Brief that it would continue to collect over $750 million each year.” DOE is required to provide an annual fee determination that evaluates projected costs and revenues, last completed in late 2010. However, the filing says that fee collection can’t be justified without a nuclear waste disposal program. Oral arguments in the case are scheduled for January 12.
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