Huffman et al. v. Western Nuclear, Inc., et al. (486 U.S. 663)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided June 15, 1988 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 486 U.S. 663 · 108 S. Ct. 2087
- Decided
- June 15, 1988
- Term
- October Term 1987
- Vote
- 9–0
- Majority author
- Justice Blackmun
- Issue area
- Economic Activity
- Disposition
- Reversed and remanded
- Outcome
- Petitioning party won
- Ideological direction
- Liberal
Opinion excerpt
Justice Blackmun delivered the opinion of the Court. Section 161(v) of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended, 78 Stat. 606, 42 U. S. C. §2201(v), provides that the Department of Energy (DOE) shall restrict its enrichment of foreign-source uranium intended for use in domestic facilities “to the extent necessary to assure the maintenance of a viable domestic uranium industry.” DOE has determined that the domestic uranium industry has not been “viable” since 1983, and that the imposition of restrictions on the enrichment of foreign uranium would not assure viability. In this case we consider whether § 161(v) requires DOE to restrict the enrichment of foreign uranium, irrespective of whether such restriction would make the domestic industry viable. We conclude that it does not. I — I In 1964, as part of its efforts to move the nuclear-power industry into the private sector, Congress enacted the Private Ownership of Special Nuclear Materials Act (Act), Pub. L. 88-489, 78 Stat. 602, which amended the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 to permit privately owned utilities operating nuclear reactors also to own, for the first time, the uranium used for fuel in their reactors. At the time of the statute’s enactment, DOE’s predecessor, the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC), was the only entity in the world with the facilities to convert natural uranium into the enriched uranium used for fuel in…
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