On April 7, U.S. Court of Federal Claims Judge James F. Merow released his decision that awards Connecticut Yankee Atomic Power Company, Yankee Atomic Electric Company, and Maine Yankee Atomic Power Company approximately $76.8 million in total damages for the costs related to the government's continuing failure to honor its contractual obligations to remove spent nuclear fuel and Greater than Class C waste from the three sites.

These Phase III litigation awards represent damages that MYAPCO, CYAPCO and YAEC incurred from January 1, 2009 through December 31, 2012. In these Phase III cases, Judge Merow awarded CYAPCO $32.6 million, YAEC $19.6 million, and MYAPCO $24.6 million.

Wayne Norton, President of CYAPCO and YAEC and Chief Nuclear Office of MYAPCO, said, “We are very pleased to have been awarded an additional $76.8 million in costs resulting from the Department of Energy’s continuing failure to honor its contractual obligations to begin removing spent nuclear fuel and Greater than Class C waste from our three sites. We urge the federal government to fulfill its commitment to remove this material from our sites without further delay.”

The Courts have previously awarded the three companies approximately $395.4 million for Phase I and Phase II of litigation resulting from the DOE’s failure to meet its contractual obligations. The ongoing litigation between the three companies and the Department of Energy is being conducted in phases as an earlier U.S. Federal Appeals Court decision ruled that utility companies, such as the three companies, cannot receive damage awards for costs that have not yet been incurred. As a result, the three companies have, and expect to continue to litigate with the DOE every several years to request damages for costs incurred by the Companies.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) approved a filing in June 2013 following the award of the Phase I damages proceeds that accepted an agreement reached between the three Yankee Companies and the state utility regulators in Connecticut, Maine and Massachusetts that historically have intervened in the companies’ FERC rate cases. That agreement detailed an approach for applying the Phase I damages proceeds and future damages awards that best serves the interests of the ratepayers in each of the states. The Phase I and Phase II damages proceeds were disbursed in accordance with the 2013 FERC order.

“While recovering the Phase I and Phase II monetary damages from the federal government and the decision in these Phase III cases is positive for the ratepayers, it does not result in spent nuclear fuel and Greater than Class C waste being removed from our sites. We urge Congress to implement a pilot program to remove spent nuclear fuel and High-Level Waste from shut-down reactor sites and relocate it to one or more consolidated interim storage facilities in a volunteer host community as proposed in US Senate and House legislation introduced this session.

The pilot program provision in the bills has bipartisan support in Congress and is a key component of the Administration's strategy for managing the nation's spent nuclear fuel; however, Congress must enact this legislation in order for DOE to implement the pilot program. The three Yankee companies will continue to work closely with our stakeholders to hasten the day when the federal government fulfills its obligation to remove the spent nuclear fuel and Greater than Class C waste from our sites so that they can be reused for other purposes and the cost burden on ratepayers is lifted,” Norton said.