Experienced Representation for the Nuclear Industry

Beginning with its representation of the Institute of Nuclear Power Operations (INPO) thirty years ago to the current nuclear renaissance, King & Spalding has played an active role in representing key participants in the nuclear industry, with special nuclear industry expertise counseling clients in matters related to plant construction, plant operation, management of commercial and environmental disputes, governmental relations, intellectual property transfers and mergers and acquisitions.

King & Spalding is named one of the top energy and natural resources firms in the United States in the 2008 edition of Chambers Global: The World’s Leading Lawyers for Business.

Nuclear Plant Construction

King & Spalding has a leading project development and construction team consisting of lawyers with engineering and technical backgrounds who focus solely on representing owners, utilities and developers in the drafting and negotiation of construction and operation agreements for their clients’ global construction projects, valued from $100 million to over $10 billion. This expertise extends to the nuclear industry, with the firm representing a national electric power company in the drafting and negotiation of an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract and the long term service agreement (LTSA) for a 2200 MW greenfield nuclear power plant to be located in the southeastern United States, and drafting and negotiating construction contracts for the National Enrichment Facility (NEF), a 3 million SWU/yr uranium enrichment facility currently under construction in New Mexico. The NEF project, owned by Louisiana Energy Services, L.P., a subsidiary of Urenco Limited, is the first project to be developed pursuant to a combined construction and operating license from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and will allow NEF to proceed directly from construction to operation.

The construction team is actively involved in nuclear industry organizations, and one of its members, Scott Greer, the head of the firm’s Global Construction Transaction group, is a member of the World Nuclear Association’s (WNA) Industry Economics Working Group and Capacity Optimization Working Group.

Nuclear Plant Operation and Dispute Resolution

King & Spalding has a long history of representing operators and operator trade organizations in a variety of sensitive industry matters. For thirty years, King & Spalding has represented INPO, which was formed in response to recommendations by the Kemeny Commission Report, following the investigation of the Three Mile Island event. INPO, whose members are comprised of each of the nuclear power operators in the United States, works with its members to promote operational excellence. Additionally, the firm regularly represents owners and operators in a wide range of commercial, environmental, and regulatory disputes unique to the nuclear industry.

King & Spalding’s dispute resolution experience includes:

• Representation of the Nebraska Public Power District (NPPD) in a four-week trial of breach of contract claims by Lincoln Electric System seeking damages for the purchase of replacement power, lost profits and repayment of excess operation costs allegedly incurred as a result of NPPD's mismanagement of the Cooper Nuclear Power Plant. King & Spalding won a jury defense verdict for the operator in that case.
  
  
• Representation of numerous electric power utility clients in breach of contract, fraud and RICO litigation involving nuclear power plant equipment, including representation of nuclear plant owners in cases resulting in recoveries of costs to replace pressurized water reactor steam generators.
  
  
• Achievement of the first-ever settlement resulting in the Department of Energy taking title to and paying costs for spent nuclear fuel held by a nuclear plant owner.
  
  
• Representation of the operator of a nuclear facility in Oak Ridge, Tennessee against class action litigation.

Governmental Relations

King & Spalding’s Governmental Relations Practice Group, based in Washington, D.C., assists nuclear industry clients in a number of key areas at the federal and state level. At the federal level, members of the team have bipartisan, long-time relationships with Congressional policymakers and staff involved in drafting energy-related legislation. The current governmental relations team includes former Ambassador Lloyd Hand, George Crawford, former Chief of Staff to Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi, and Tom Spulak, former General Counsel to the House of Representatives. Additionally, although no longer practicing with the firm, retired King & Spalding partner and former U.S. Senator Sam Nunn helped establish the firm’s reputation in the nuclear industry and has been engaged for over 30 years in the international debate over important nuclear issues, like nuclear enrichment safeguards, nuclear technology transfers and international nuclear power development and weapons proliferation. Practitioners in the group, led by Ted Hester and including former executive and legislative branch officials, advise and represent clients before congressional investigative committees. For example, Eleanor Hill, who served as the Inspector General of the Department of Defense as well as the Staff Director of the Joint Congressional Inquiry on the September 11th Attacks recently represented a DOE-sponsored national laboratory in connection with House and Senate investigations of nuclear security issues.

Intellectual Property

King & Spalding’s Intellectual Property (“IP”) Practice Group assists nuclear industry clients with a wide range of IP transactional and proprietary right dispute-oriented issues. The group focuses on issues especially important to owners and operators of nuclear facilities, including licensing and technology transfer, transactional agreements, protection of trade secrets and confidential information, patent infringement defense and IP dispute resolution. All of the firm’s patent lawyers have undergraduate degrees and, in some cases, advanced graduate degrees in the engineering or science arts. Several members of the IP Practice Group have prior industrial experience as nuclear engineers or have performed nuclear energy-related research in their academic careers. The IP Practice Group has most recently represented a national electric utility with respect to intellectual property issues for the construction and operation of a 2200 MW greenfield nuclear power plant to be built in the southeastern United States, and represented GE Energy in connection with IP transactional aspects of its bid for the Westinghouse nuclear business. Additionally, the IP Practice Group has advised a leading international provider of technical reactor services on intellectual property issues.

Mergers & Acquisitions

King & Spalding represents clients interested in acquiring or selling companies involved in the nuclear industry. Our lawyers have worked on nuclear, electric power and alternative energy mergers and acquisitions, including buy-side due diligence of targets valued in excess of $5billion. Recent experience includes King & Spalding’s representation of GE Energy in its bid for the Westinghouse nuclear business owned by British Nuclear Fuels. King & Spalding also has experience advising a multinational electric power company on the implications of purchasing a portfolio of foreign nuclear reactors.