Circuit Court won't hear PFS case

Private Fuel Storage's plans to build a high-level nuclear waste storage facility in Tooele County are so unlikely to be realized, at least for now, that the top circuit court in the country won't take up the issue.

The U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for Washington, D.C., issued a ruling Monday that it would not hear an appeal by the state of Utah to overturn the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's granting a license to the controversial facility. The refusal was an acknowledgement that the plant appears dead.

The repository would have been built on land leased from the Skull Valley Band of the Goshute Tribe. It was licensed to store up to 40,000 metric tons of highly radioactive spent nuclear fuel for 20 years with an option to renew for another 20 years, according to the court.

Judge Merrick B. Garland wrote for the court that after the NRC granted the license in 2006, the Bureau of Land Management and Bureau of Indian Affairs both denied applications PFS needed for rights of way and a lease, respectively.

"Because it is speculative whether the project will ever be able to proceed, we find the petitioner's challenge unripe and direct that the case be held in abeyance."

PFS spokeswoman Sue Martin said the case is not "ripe" right now.

"We knew that this was a possible way the Appeals Court could rule for now. PFS plans to appeal the Interior decisions," Martin said. "We hope to win that appeal and move forward with the project."