The U.S. Supreme Court handed North Carolina a victory today in an epic, decades-long legal battle with other states over plans for a low-level nuclear disposal site that would have been in Wake County.
Seven Southeastern states joined in 1986 to share the burden of disposing of irradiated material produced by nuclear reactors, factories, hospitals and laboratories. North Carolina was picked to host a landfill for the material, and the compact agreed to help with the costs.
But safety concerns and out-of-control expenses delayed the project. Money from the other states dried up. Eventually, North Carolina decided to cancel the project and withdraw from the interstate compact. Other states sought to assess $80 million in penalties.
