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"The La Salle County property tax review board ruled the equalized assessment value for Exelon Nuclear's generating plant south of Seneca is $525 million. J. Bradley Fewell, legal counsel for Exelon Nuclear, issued a written statement Friday saying the assessed value "will increase the station's property taxes to approximately $21 million per year, a 75 percent increase from what the station paid in 2009." "We will evaluate all options available to us, including an appeal to the Illinois Property Tax Appeal Board," Fewell said."

The largest tax break given under city policies in effect for several years might have to be revised now that USEC Inc. and its partner and contractors have begun laying off employees, city officials said last week. The property tax break, valued at up to $5 million over a 10-year period, was approved about a year ago -- before USEC ran into trouble getting a big loan guarantee from the U.S. Department of Energy. The $2 billion guarantee would have been used for work on USEC's American Centrifuge Program.

The largest tax break given under city policies in effect for several years might have to be revised now that USEC Inc. and its partner and contractors have begun laying off employees, city officials said last week. The property tax break, valued at up to $5 million over a 10-year period, was approved about a year ago -- before USEC ran into trouble getting a big loan guarantee from the U.S. Department of Energy. The $2 billion guarantee would have been used for work on USEC's American Centrifuge Program.

In announcing its application to extend the life of Diablo Canyon nuclear reactors until 2045, PG&E emphasized the taxes it contributes to the local economy. However, there is a long list of unresolved safety and security issues that were not acknowledged. Storing radioactive waste next to two earthquake faults presents a permanent hazard. Neither the faults nor the waste will ever go away. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission and Homeland Security declare that all nuclear plants are targets of terrorists, and the San Luis Obispo Mothers for Peace has a lawsuit pending in federal court regarding the vulnerability of the wastes stored at Diablo. In addition, the NRC is currently investigating why and how Diablo operated for a full 18 months with a defect in the controls of the system designed to flood the Unit 2 reactor in the event of an accident or sabotage causing a loss of essential cooling water. Diablo property taxes do not compensate for the safety hazards inherent in the nuclear reactors and waste storage.

In announcing its application to extend the life of Diablo Canyon nuclear reactors until 2045, PG&E emphasized the taxes it contributes to the local economy. However, there is a long list of unresolved safety and security issues that were not acknowledged. Storing radioactive waste next to two earthquake faults presents a permanent hazard. Neither the faults nor the waste will ever go away. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission and Homeland Security declare that all nuclear plants are targets of terrorists, and the San Luis Obispo Mothers for Peace has a lawsuit pending in federal court regarding the vulnerability of the wastes stored at Diablo. In addition, the NRC is currently investigating why and how Diablo operated for a full 18 months with a defect in the controls of the system designed to flood the Unit 2 reactor in the event of an accident or sabotage causing a loss of essential cooling water. Diablo property taxes do not compensate for the safety hazards inherent in the nuclear reactors and waste storage.

A city board endorsed a property tax abatement on Tuesday that could be worth $5 million. It's the largest tax break approved by the Oak Ridge Industrial Development Board since the abatement policies -- designed to lure new businesses to town -- went into effect several years ago.

The Seabrook Station nuclear plant pays almost half of the property taxes in town, but the company that owns the plant is arguing that its $15.3 million tax bill is simply way too much. Florida Power and Light, the company that owns the major portion of the Seabrook nuclear power plant, recently filed an abatement appeal with selectmen over the new taxable value of its facility. According to Seabrook Town Manager Barry Brenner, the town received Florida Power and Light's appeal of the town's new $1.65 billion assessment of the plant on Monday, making the deadline for such abatement appeals. The prior agreed-upon worth of the plant was $1.043 billion, meaning the new value represents an increase of $607 million.

"EnergySolutions Inc. is shortchanging the state by millions of dollars in taxes each year because of the state's lax waste-reporting requirement for the company, an attorney told the Utah Supreme Court on Thursday. Lewis Francis, representing Charles Judd and his company, Cedar Mountain Environmental, asked the court to overturn a 2009 Utah Radiation Control Board ruling that denied his clients the legal standing that would have allowed them to bring attention to the alleged tax issue and other problems with EnergySolutions' current license. The state's lost revenue could total as much as $25 million, he said. The case, which the justices took under advisement, is the third involving the Tooele County low-level radioactive waste site to come before the state's highest court in the past two years, and it raises similar issues to the Judd-EnergySolutions case the court decided in Judd's favor last year. It is also one of a half-dozen that have dealt with the question of who can intervene in the formal decision making by governmental boards and commissions. In Thursday's case, lawyers for EnergySolutions and the Utah Radiation Control Board argued that Judd and his new company failed to meet the legal tests that show they, as the saying goes, have a dog in the fight. They have not been harmed, as a neighboring property owner, a business competitor or a member of the public at large whose personal health or environment might be at risk. "

"The Danville Regional Foundation (DRF) announced Friday it has received proposals from two nationally-known groups, Resources for the Future and RTI International, to conduct an independent socioeconomic study on the regional impact of uranium mining. Abstracts of these proposals can be found online (http://danvilleregionalfoundation.org/Uranium/uranium-proposal-abstracts) and available for public comments for 30 days through DRF's Uranium Blog (http://danvilleregionalfoundation.org/Uranium/). Registered public comments submitted online will be reviewed and used in selecting the organization to conduct the study. Selection is expected to be announced in August with the final study due by year-end 2011, according to a DRF news release. The proposed study will examine the potential effects of uranium mining and milling, and long-term waste management on people, institutions and economies within 50 miles of the proposed site. Specific means of determining the socio-economic benefits and risks, such as impact on property values, taxes and institutions, are outlined in the abstracts, the release stated. In the state of Virginia, there are currently four uranium mining, milling and tailings storage studies currently under way or planned. Each has different purposes, it continued. A brief summary is online (http://danvilleregionalfoundation.org/news/documents/Uranium-Studies-FINAL.pdf) "