ELR Citation: 54 ELR 20018
No(s). 1:23-cv-00093-DC (D. Idaho Feb 1, 2024) (Nye, J.)

A district court granted DOE's motion to dismiss a lawsuit over the social and economic impacts of storing spent nuclear fuel at Idaho National Laboratory (INL). Butte County argued DOE should have determined the social and economic impacts of storing the materials at INL because they were there pursuant to the interim storage program described in Part B of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act (NWPA). DOE moved to dismiss, asserting the county lacked standing, that its claims were time barred, and that it failed to state a claim because DOE provided interim storage pursuant to the Atomic Energy Act, not the NWPA. The court found the county lacked standing because it failed to demonstrate that it suffered an actual or concrete injury, that its claims were barred by the six-year statute of limitations, and that it failed to state a claim for relief because DOE did not utilize the NWPA to store nuclear waste at INL. It dismissed the suit.