Nuclear utilities sue DOE to evade Nuclear Waste Fund fees

The industry's lobby arm, Nuclear Energy Institute, and 16 nuclear utilities, have sued the U.S. Department of Energy in federal court to seek a suspension to $750 million per year of ratepayer fees charged on electricity bills for radioactive waste generation at commercial reactors. The lawsuit comes in response to the Obama administration's decision to cancel the Yucca Mountain dumpsite proposal in Nevada.

New York Times calls on Entergy to "stop abusing the Hudson River"

In a remarkable editorial, the New York Times has celebrated the State of New York's decision to block Entergy Nuclear's Indian Point Nuclear Power Plant's NPDES (National Pollution Discharge Elimination System) permit, which could force the two reactors to shut down in 2013 and 2015. The Times praised Hudson Riverkeeper, as well as folk singer Pete Seeger, for their watchdogging of the reactors, pointing out that a billion river organisms per year are killed by the plant's obsolete "once through" cooling system. (The Times may have to run a correction, though, as only 15% of the metro NYC area gets electricity from Indian Point -- the 30% figure referred to in the editorial includes nuclear electricity supplied by additional reactors in New York State and New Jersey.)