Final arguments in the process for the sale of the Bellefonte nuclear power plant

Closing arguments are slated for Thursday in Huntsville in the federal lawsuit over the sale of the Bellefonte nuclear power plant in northeast Alabama, which stalled due to a dispute between the owner of the mothballed facility and its potential buyer.

TVA agreed to sell the facility in 2016 to Nuclear Development, a company founded by Tennessee developer Franklin Haney Sr. for the sole purpose of acquiring the unfinished facility near Scottsboro.

However, two weeks before the November 2018 cut-off date, TVA raised legal concerns about the sale because Nuclear Development had not received a transfer of building permits from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. TVA said the transfer from TVA to ND would preclude the sale from being closed.

When TVA failed to complete the sale on the cut-off date, Nuclear Development filed its lawsuit.

Once attorneys on both sides deliver their closing arguments, the case will be in the hands of US District Judge Liles Burke, who will ultimately pass judgment in the banking process. There is no jury in the process.

The judge heard testimony for a week in May and then allowed either side to submit written arguments after the trial that led to Thursday’s closing arguments.

Nuclear Development was granted the right to purchase the facility in 2016 with an auction bid of $ 111 million.

The issue of building permits is at the heart of the disagreement between the two sides as Nuclear Development claims TVA is motivated not to close the sale because ND has recruited the City of Memphis as a customer. Memphis Light, Gas & Water is TVA’s largest customer.

ND has also alleged TVA knew for months that transferring the permits would be an issue in closing the sale before sharing those concerns with the prospective buyer.

“TVA’s hidden concern about whether the sale of Bellefonte could legally be completed without the prior consent of the NRC hit the core of the deal and was the top issue TVA should have reported to ND immediately, especially given ND’s payments of the amount of $ 29 million to TVA, ND’s years of work on the Bellefonte Project, and the millions of dollars ND spent relying on TVA’s agreement to close, ”nuclear development attorneys wrote in their post Trial briefing.

In its defense, TVA said Nuclear Development only filed an application for the permits less than a month before the shutdown – too short a timeframe for the permits to be transferred.

“Was TVA somehow responsible for the late filing?” TVA’s lawyers wrote in their letter after the trial. “Although ND made a number of allegations alleging TVA violated its contractual obligations, they all miss the mark. TVA has acted appropriately in fulfilling its obligations. And, equally important, no act or omission by TVA has prevented ND from closing. Simply put, the deal between ND and TVA broke up because ND failed to meet its contractual obligations in a timely manner. ND’s claims against TVA for breach of contract cannot be successful. “

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