Washington (Platts)--11Dec2007
In a victory for the US nuclear power industry, a federal appeals court
on Tuesday threw out a lawsuit that sought to halt construction of a $1.5
billion uranium-enrichment plant that a consortium of energy companies is
building in southeastern New Mexico.
The ruling, by a three-judge panel of the US Circuit Court of Appeals for
the District of Columbia, will allow work to continue on the so-called
National Enrichment Facility near Eunice, New Mexico.
The facility, which will produce fuel for US nuclear power plants, is
being built by Louisiana Energy Services, a consortium of US and European
power companies.
LES expects the plant to be fully operational by 2013, and that it will
provide about 25% of the enriched uranium that US nuclear power plants will
require. Currently, less than 10% of the enriched uranium that US plants use
is produced domestically.
Two environmental groups, Public Citizen and the Nuclear Information and
Resource Service, sued the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission for granting LES a
license to operate the plant.
The groups said NRC's issuance of the license violated the National
Environmental Policy Act and the Atomic Energy Act. The groups argued that NRC
did not adequately address the environmental impacts of the radioactive waste
that the facility will produce, among other things.
But the court rejected that argument Tuesday, saying in a 16-page ruling
that "NRC thoroughly examined the environmental consequences of waste
disposal."
The court also rejected the groups' argument that LES had failed to
provide a reasonable cost estimate for disposing of the facility's waste. It
said that under the law, LES "need not present a concrete plan," but only a
"plausible strategy" for disposing of the waste.
LES began construction on the plant in August. US firms that are part of
the consortium are Entergy, Exelon and Duke Power. LES' European partner is
Urenco, a consortium of British Nuclear Fuels, the Dutch government and
several German utilities.
--Brian Hansen, brian_hansen@platts.com
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