## Facts

- The Skull Valley Band of Goshute Indians leased tribal land to Private Fuel Storage, L.L.C. (PFS) to develop a private interim storage facility for spent nuclear fuel on the reservation in Utah.
- PFS sought a license from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) for an “away-from-reactor” spent-fuel storage facility.
- Utah enacted statutes and related measures aimed at obstructing the project, including:
  - removing limited-liability protections for entities involved in spent-fuel storage;
  - imposing special bonding/financial-assurance requirements;
  - directing county planning and regulation based on human health and safety effects of spent-fuel storage;
  - restricting or burdening road construction and transportation access associated with the facility.
- The NRC concluded that federal nuclear law authorized NRC licensing of such a facility and vested exclusive federal authority over radiological safety, and that federal law provided a comprehensive liability/financial-protection scheme for nuclear licensees.
- The Band and PFS sued Utah officials in federal district court, asserting federal preemption; the district court enjoined enforcement of the challenged Utah laws, and Utah officials appealed.

## Issues

1. Whether Utah’s targeted liability, bonding, land-use, and transportation measures affecting spent nuclear fuel storage were preempted by federal law regulating nuclear safety and nuclear-incident liability.
2. Whether Utah could contest the NRC’s authority to license an away-from-reactor spent-fuel storage facility through an ordinary civil action rather than the statutory administrative and direct appellate review scheme.
3. Whether any challenged provisions could be sustained as non-safety state regulation within traditional police powers without conflicting with federal objectives.

## Decision

- The Tenth Circuit affirmed the district court’s judgment.
- The court held the challenged Utah statutes were preempted because, in purpose and practical effect, they regulated or obstructed a federally licensed nuclear activity on radiological-safety grounds and interfered with federal objectives.
- The court held Utah could not use this litigation to mount a collateral attack on NRC licensing authority; such challenges must proceed through the Atomic Energy Act and Hobbs Act review pathway (administrative process and direct review in the court of appeals).
- The injunction against enforcement of the challenged state measures as applied to the proposed facility was upheld.

## Legal Principles

- Federal law occupies the field of radiological health and safety regulation for nuclear materials; states may not regulate nuclear facilities based on radiological-safety concerns.
- Courts assess preemption by examining a state law’s purpose and effect, not merely its stated label; measures framed as economic, planning, or infrastructure regulation may be preempted if they function as nuclear-safety regulation.
- The Price–Anderson Act and related federal provisions establish a comprehensive federal system for nuclear-incident financial protection and liability limits; states may not selectively revoke limited liability or impose conflicting financial-assurance requirements on NRC-regulated entities.
- Challenges to NRC licensing authority and licensing decisions must follow the exclusive statutory review scheme established by the Atomic Energy Act and the Hobbs Act and cannot be raised through collateral district court litigation.

## Conclusion

The court held that Utah’s targeted statutes and restrictions designed to impede an NRC-licensed spent-fuel storage project were preempted by federal nuclear-safety and nuclear-liability law, and that Utah’s objections to NRC licensing authority had to be pursued through the federal administrative and direct-review process rather than through independent state legislation or collateral federal litigation.


Skull Valley Band of Goshute Indians v. Nielson, 376 F.3d 1223 (10th Cir. 2004)