Utility contract may be voided: Judge criticizes repository delays

[NVMojo]

See what trouble Bush's "sound science" beliefs get us into?

WASHINGTON -- In an opinion highly critical of government delays at Yucca Mountain, a federal judge said she wants to void a California public utility's nuclear waste contract and give ratepayers their money back.

Judge Susan Braden said she has tentatively concluded that a 1983 contract signed by the Sacramento Municipal Utility District should be rescinded.

She proposed the customer-owned utility get a refund for the $40 million it has paid to build a repository and to have radioactive spent fuel moved from the mothballed Rancho Seco Nuclear Power Station.

The opinion and show cause order marked the first time a judge has proposed going so far as to dismantle contracts stemming from Energy Department delays in developing a Nevada disposal site for nuclear waste. In essence, the judge is asking the parties to convince her why she shouldn't take such action.

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http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2005/Apr-28-Thu-2005/news/26396567.html