Free Response to Motion - District Court of Federal Claims - federal

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TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE STATEMENT OF THE ISSUE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 STATEMENT OF FACTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 SUMMARY OF ARGUMENT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 ARGUMENT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 I. II. THE STANDARD OF REVIEW . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 BECAUSE CONSUMERS HAS FAILED TO SATISFY A CONDITION PRECEDENT TO DOE'S OBLIGATION TO ACCEPT ANY OF CONSUMERS' SNF, CONSUMERS HAS NO BASIS FOR OBTAINING A FINDING OF LIABILITY AGAINST DOE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 IF CONSUMERS' FAILURE TO PAY ITS ONE-TIME FEE DOES NOT PRECLUDE DOE'S LIABILITY FOR NOT ACCEPTING CONSUMERS' SNF, DOE WAS NOT REQUIRED TO BEGIN ACCEPTING CONSUMERS' SNF IN 1998, PRECLUDING THE LIABILITY RULING THAT CONSUMERS HAS REQUESTED . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 A. A Primary Requirement Of The Standard Contract Is That Oldest Fuel Generated In The Industry Receives Priority For Acceptance And That Acceptance Rights Be Defined In Delivery Commitment Schedules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Under The "Oldest Fuel First" Allocation System, And Based Upon Consumers' Submission Of A DCS For Acceptance Of SNF In 1999, DOE Was Not Obligated To Begin Accepting Consumers' SNF, Assuming Its Fees Were Timely Paid, Before 1999 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Consumers' Assertion That It Is Entitled To A Liability Ruling On Summary Judgment, Establishing Liability On January 31, 1998, Conflicts With Consumers' Past Conduct, The Language Of The Standard Contract, And The Elements Necessary For Establishing Liability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

III.

B.

C.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS (cont'd) PAGE D. Because DOE Was Not Obligated To Accept Consumers' SNF Outside The Context Of Consumers' First Approved DCS, In Accordance With The "Oldest Fuel First" Acceptance Queue, Consumers Cannot Identify Any Breach That Runs Directly To Consumers Prior To The 1999 Acceptance Period . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Consumers Has No Basis At This Time For Seeking A Liability Ruling Prior To At Least 1999 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Other Decisions Of This Court, Finding That The Delivery Commitment Schedule Provisions Of The Standard Contract Do Not Define The Parties' Delivery And Acceptance Obligations Under The Contract, Render The Contract's Schedule Terms Meaningless And Render The Contract Too Indefinite To Enforce . . . . 14

E. F.

IV.

TO THE EXTENT THAT THE COURT WOULD OTHERWISE GRANT THE PLAINTIFF'S MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT ON LIABILITY, THE COURT SHOULD GRANT THE UNITED STATES DISCOVERY PURSUANT TO RULE 56(f) BEFORE DECIDING THAT MOTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

CONCLUSION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

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Alvin Ltd. v. United States Postal Service, 816 F.2d 1562 (Fed. Cir. 1987) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11, 22 Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242 (1986) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Avia Group International, Inc. v. L.A. Gear California, Inc., 853 F.2d 1557 (Fed. Cir. 1988) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Aviation Contractor Employees, Inc. v. United States, 945 F.2d 1568 (Fed. Cir. 1991) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 Bel Pre Health Care Center, Inc. v. United States, 24 Cl. Ct. 495 (1991), aff'd, 980 F.2d 745 (Fed. Cir. 1992) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Cities Service Helex, Inc. v. United States, 211 Ct. Cl. 222, 543 F.2d 1306 (1976) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 City of Fairfax, Va. v. Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, 582 F.2d 1321 (4th Cir. 1978), cert. denied, 440 U.S. 914 (1979) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 City of Tacoma, Department of Public Utilities v. United States, 31 F.3d 1130 (Fed. Cir. 1994) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 Commonwealth Edison Co. v. United States, 56 Fed. Cl. 652 (2003) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Cosmo Construction Co. v. United States, 196 Ct. Cl. 463, 451 F.2d 602 (1971) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Coyle's Pest Control, Inc. v. Cuomo, 154 F.3d 1302 (Fed. Cir. 1998) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 David Nassif Associates v. United States, 214 Ct. Cl. 407, 557 F.2d 249 (1977) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 David Nassif Associates v. United States, 226 Ct. Cl. 372, 644 F.2d 4 (1981) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

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Dombrovskis v. Esperdy, 185 F. Supp. 478 (S.D.N.Y. 1960) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Gould, Inc. v. United States, 935 F.2d 1271 (Fed. Cir. 1991) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Hansen Bancorp, Inc. v. United States, 53 Fed. Cl. 92 (2002), vacated in part on other grounds, 367 F.3d 1297 (Fed. Cir. 2004) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Indiana Michigan Power Co. v. United States, 57 Fed. Cl. 88 (2003), appeal pending, No. 04-5122 (Fed. Cir.) . . . . . . . . . . . . 16, 17, 18 Indiana Michigan Power Co. v. United States, 60 Fed. Cl. 639 (2004), appeal pending, No. 04-5122 (Fed. Cir.) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Julius Goldman's Egg City v. United States, 697 F.2d 1051 (Fed. Cir. 1983), cert. denied, 464 U.S. 814 (1983) . . . . . . . . . . . . 11, 22 Landmark Land Co. v. United States, 256 F.3d 1365 (Fed. Cir. 2001) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Lovink v. Guilford Mills, Inc., 878 F.2d 584 (2d Cir. 1989) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13, 14 Lucente v. International Bus. Machines Corp., 310 F.3d 243 (2d Cir. 2002) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Massengill v. Guardian Mgt. Co., 19 F.3d 196 (5th Cir. 1994) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 Mays v. Trump Indiana, Inc., 255 F.3d 351 (7th Cir. 2001) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Michael Rose Productions, Inc. v. Loew's Inc., 141 F. Supp. 257 (S.D.N.Y. 1956) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Mingus Constructors, Inc. v. United States, 812 F.2d 1387 (Fed. Cir. 1987) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 iv

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Modern System Technology Corp. v. United States, 979 F.2d 200 (Fed. Cir. 1992) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Neeley v. Bankers Trust Co. of Tex., 757 F.2d 621 (5th Cir. 1985) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Omni Corp. v. United States, 41 Fed. Cl. 585 (1998) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11, 22 Puritan Assocs. v. United States, 215 Ct. Cl. 976 (1977) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Reynolds v. United States, 141 Ct. Cl. 211, 158 F. Supp. 719 (1958) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Ridge Runner Forestry v. Veneman, 28 F.3d 1058 (Fed. Cir. 2002) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Shann v. Dunk, 84 F.3d 73 (2d Cir. 1996) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Southern Nuclear Operating Co. v. United States, No. 98-614C, slip op. (Fed. Cl. Apr. 7, 2004) (unpublished opinion) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Sweats Fashions, Inc. v. Pannill Knitting Company, Inc., 833 F.2d 1560 (Fed. Cir. 1987) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 The Pantry, Inc. v. Stop-N-Go Foods, Inc., 796 F. Supp. 1164 (S.D. Ind. 1992) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Transamerica Equipment Leasing Corp. v. Union Bank, 426 F.2d 273 (9th Cir. 1970) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Winstar Corp. v. United States, 21 Cl. Ct. 112 (1990), aff'd, 64 F.3d 1531 (Fed. Cir. 1995) (en banc), aff'd, 518 U.S. 839 (1996) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Yankee Atomic Electric Co. v. United States, No. 98-126C, slip op. (Fed. Cl. June 26, 2003) (unpublished opinion) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 v

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42 U.S.C. §§ 10101-10270 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 10 C.F.R. § 961.11, Art. VIII.B.2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . passim MISCELLANEOUS 3A A. Corbin, Corbin on Contracts § 628 (1960) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 4 A. Corbin, Corbin on Contracts § 972 (1951) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Restatement (Second) of Contracts § 253 cmt. b . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

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INDEX TO APPENDIX DOCUMENT PAGE

Portions of the Administrative Record of the DOE Standard Contract Rulemaking for Disposal of Spent Nuclear Fuel and/or High Level Radioactive Waste . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Edison Electric Institute Comments, March 7, 1983 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Statement of M.C. Cook, Vice President, Florida Power & Light Company, March 1, 1983 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 Northern States Power Comments, March 3, 1983 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 Cincinnati Gas & Electric Comments, March 4, 1983 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 Consumers Power Company Comments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 Public Service Company of Colorado Comments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 Cleveland Electric Illuminating Company Comments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52 Gulf States Utilities Comments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 Wisconsin Public Service Corporation Comments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62 Yankee Atomic Electric Company Comments, March 4, 1983 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64 Public Service Electric and Gas Company Comments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66 Long Island Lighting Company Comments, March 3, 1983 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70 Northeast Utilities Comments, March 3, 1983 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72 Alabama Power Company Comments, March 4, 1983 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74 Kansas Gas and Electric Company Comments, March 1, 1983 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78 Iowa Electric Light and Power Company Comments, March 3, 1983 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81 Mississippi Power & Light Company Comments, March 4, 1983 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84 Portland General Electric Company Comments, March 4, 1983 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89 vii

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INDEX TO THE APPENDIX (cont'd) DOCUMENT PAGE

Detroit Edison Comments, March 3, 1983 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92 Florida Power & Light Company Comments, March 7, 1983 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94 Duquesne Light Company Comments, March 4, 1983 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96 Pacific Gas and Electric Company Comments, March 4, 1983 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99 TVA Comments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104 Houston Lighting and Power Company Comments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106 Middle South Services, Inc. Comments, March 7, 1983 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107 Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Corp. Comments, March 7, 1983 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110 Consolidated Edison Company of New York Comments, March 7, 1983 . . . . . . . . . . 113 Dairyland Power Cooperative Comments, March 7, 1983 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115 Georgia Power Comments, March 4, 1983 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118 Letter from Secretary Hodel to Senator Johnston, September 7, 1984 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122 Letter from J. Michael Farrell to Honorable Philip R. Sharp, April 1, 1987 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126 Memo from Ronald A. Milner, December 20, 1991 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141 Letter from M. Detmer to J.M. Buchheit, March 4, 1992 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143 Letter from M. Detmer to Michael E. Thomas, March 4, 1992 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153 Letter from M. Detmer to J.E. McKissick, March 4, 1992 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163 Portions of Mission Plan for the Civilian Radioactive Waste Management Program, June 1985 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188 Portions of OCRWM Mission Plan Amendment, June 1987 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205

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Portions of Annual Capacity Report, June 1987 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208 Portions of Annual Capacity Report, June 1988 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211 Portions of Annual Capacity Report, December 1990 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214 Portions of Annual Capacity Report, December 1991 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219 Portions of 1992 Acceptance Priority Ranking, Revision 1, May 1993 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257 Portions of Acceptance Priority Ranking and Annual Capacity Report, March 1995 . . . . . . . . 289 Portions of Annual Capacity Report, December 1991 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 402 Portions of 1992 Annual Capacity Report, Revision 1, May 1993 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 464 Pages from Consumers Energy website, www.consumersenergy.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 503 Pages from American Nuclear Society website, www.ans.org . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 506 Excerpt of Trial Testimony of Christopher Kouts in Yankee Atomic Electric Co. v. United States, No. 98-126C (Fed. Cl.), August 2, 2004 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 508 Excerpt of H.R. Rep. No. 108-212, "Energy and Water Development Appropriations Bill, 2004," July 16, 2003 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 513

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