TRI-CITIES, Wash. (AP) — The company that operates the nuclear power plant on the Hanford nuclear reservation has won a $57 million federal court ruling against the Energy Department.
The Tri-City Herald reports the Federal Claims Court award on Friday compensates Energy Northwest for delays in opening the Yucca Mountain waste repository in Nevada.
Energy Northwest has had to store spent nuclear fuel on site.
Yucca Mountain was to open in 1998 to accept fuel from nuclear power plants, but that has been delayed, and now the Obama administration wants to terminate it as a disposal site.
Energy Northwest expects the Energy Department to appeal the ruling as it has similar cases filed by other nuclear utilities.