Nuclear Energy

For more than 35 years, Day Pitney attorneys have been at the leading edge of issues related to the nuclear energy industry, through both prosperity and difficulty. We have guided utilities in major transactions and strategic planning and in complex state and federal litigation and rate matters before federal and state agencies. Our work has encompassed plant selection, siting, procurement, structuring of ownership and operating entities, licensing and construction issues, federal regulation, operational issues, prudence reviews, decommissioning, Price Anderson Act issues, federal pre-emption, NRC and industry assessment of performance and litigation.  

We have worked on numerous nuclear projects, including Bruce, Callaway, Comanche Peak, Connecticut Yankee, Davis Besse, Diablo Canyon, Maine Yankee, Millstone, Montague, Nine Mile Point, Seabrook, South Texas Project, Summer, Vermont Yankee, Wolf Creek and Yankee Rowe.  

Our attorneys have guided clients in all aspects of the commercial nuclear power industry. Our work literally traces the history of the industry. Among many other projects, our attorneys have been involved in:

• The development of Connecticut Yankee Atomic Power Company in Haddam, CT, and the three-unit Millstone Nuclear Station in Waterford, CT, including plant selection, siting, procurement, licensing, construction, financing and placement into rate base of the Millstone units.
• Creation of specialized structures for the ownership, financing and operation of nuclear plants and fuel, including drafting and negotiating joint ownership agreements and plant operating agreements among co-owners and drafting and negotiating complex agreements with architect/engineers and equipment and fuel vendors.
• An extensive evaluation of the structures, benefits and costs involved in forming a nuclear operating company or a nuclear GENCO for the STARS plants (Comanche Peak, South Texas Project, Callaway, Wolf Creek and Diablo Canyon).
• Acting as special nuclear general counsel to Northeast Utilities when the Millstone units were placed on the NRC's Watch List and shut down by the NRC, including advising the NU Board of Trustees on matters involving the recovery and restart of the Millstone units and supervising all legal resources involved with state and federal regulatory proceedings, governmental investigations and shareholder and co-owner litigation.
• Representation of the majority owner and operator of a nuclear plant in litigation with co-owners.
• Successful sale by auction of the Millstone units and Seabrook Station.
• Formation of an Independent Review Team hired by the board of directors of a major utility to investigate the causes of performance decline at its nuclear plant.
• Representation of American Nuclear Insurers.
• Representation of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. in the sale of South Texas Project Electric Generating Station as part of the $3.65 billion sale of Texas Genco Holdings, Inc.
• Representation of a co-owner of a proposed new nuclear plant in the state of South Carolina.

Gerald Garfield, the leader of our Nuclear Energy practice group, is the former general counsel of Connecticut Yankee Atomic Power Company and Yankee Atomic Electric Company, two nuclear generating companies that are in the process of decommissioning their nuclear plants, as well as vice chairman of the Atomic Energy Subcommittee of the ABA Section on Public Utilities, Communications and Transportation and vice chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Committee of the Energy Bar Association.  

www.daypitney.com