The lawsuit over the sale of the Bellefonte nuclear power plant is now awaiting the judge’s judgment

More than two and a half years since the lawsuit was filed, the hearing ended in the trial of the sale of the unfinished Alabama nuclear power plant, which failed on the day it was completed.

Nuclear development attorneys – the company looking to buy the Bellefonte nuclear power plant near Scottsboro – and plant owner TVA appeared before U.S. District Judge Liles Burke in federal court in Huntsville Thursday, giving final arguments on their positions as to why the other side The failed deal is to blame.

At the end of Thursday’s hearing, Burke gave no indication of when he will announce his finding in the banking process. There is no jury to hear the case.

Nuclear Development sued TVA on November 30, 2018, alleging the federal utility breached its contract by refusing to complete the sale. ND won the purchase rights to the facility with an auction bid of $ 111 million in November 2016. TVA denied a breach of contract, saying that Nuclear Development was solely responsible for not closing the sale because it did not receive the transfer of the facility have building permits from TVA through the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

In its post-trial brief – filed last month after a week of testimony in May – Nuclear Development sought more than $ 38 million in damages unless the court awards damages for “specific performance.” At the hearing on Thursday, TVA appealed all claims by Nuclear Development on monies paid to TVA under the original sales agreement.

The crux of the matter remains the building permit for Bellefonte – a site where work began in the mid-1970s but was never completed and a kilowatt of electricity has never been generated.

TVA claimed that Nuclear Development would need to secure the transfer of TVA’s permits before the sale could be completed. Nuclear Development said this was not required and that TVA had failed to meet its obligations under the purchase agreement.

As in the whole case, both sides offer very different perspectives on the same issue.

Nuclear Development argued that TVA knew in the summer of 2018 that TVA had concerns about the planned closure on November 14, 2018 at that time because of the granting of the building permits. TVA should have alerted Nuclear Development to these concerns, ND attorney Caine O’Rear III said Thursday.

Pointing out the sales agreement, O’Rear said TVA should use its “best efforts” to close the deal and act in “good faith”. TVA determined in the summer of 2018 that it could not close the deal, but said nothing about nuclear development, O’Rear said. If TVA had raised its concerns at this point, a decision could have been made to move the sale forward, O’Rear said.

At that point, Burke asked if TVA had done so, if nuclear development steps could be taken to complete the NRC’s transfer of permits. O’Rear said the problem could have been resolved – citing 2006 when TVA filed a withdrawal letter from Bellefonte that the NRC approved in 2½ months.

“If the permits were revoked or terminated, there would be no problem,” said O’Rear.

In his graduation, TVA attorney Matthew Lembke said Nuclear Development knew that transfer approval from NRC would take at least six months. Against this background, Lembke described May 14, 2018 – six months before the closure on November 14, 2018 – as the “drop dead date” for Nuclear Development to submit its transfer application for the permits. As noted in his opening arguments in May, Lembke said Thursday that the NRC found that the nuclear development application was inadequate.

Nuclear Development only submitted the building permit application to the NRC on November 13th – one day before the original deadline. This deadline was finally extended to November 30th.

Lembke also said TVA could not provide the NRC with a letter agreeing to transfer the permits to Nuclear Development before the application itself was submitted.

Also the Memphis question – which O’Rear briefly touched on on his graduation Thursday – is not upset, Lembke said. Nuclear Development has said TVA tried not to close the deal because ND encouraged Memphis Gas, Light & Water – TVA’s largest customer – to cut ties with TVA because more affordable electricity could be bought elsewhere.

Lembke said that the discussion about a possible exit of Memphis from TVA did not arise until October 2018 – five months after the “drop dead date” described by him, in order to submit the application for building permits.