More than a dozen power companies are suing the Energy Department to try to suspend fees they pay the government for nuclear waste storage, joining utility commissioners in a legal fight over the annual charges.

The Nuclear Energy Institute and 16 companies, including NextEra Energy Resources LLC (NEE) and Public Service Enterprise Group Inc. (PEG), are trying to suspend the fees after the Obama administration scrapped plans for a nuclear waste site at Yucca Mountain, Nev., and dismantled government operations that had been working on the project.

The administration has since launched a commission to identify other storage sites or methods.

The Nuclear Energy Institute and the companies say the Energy Department should not collect the fees - totaling about $750 million in 2010 - until it justifies the need for them in the wake of its decision to abandon Yucca Mountain.

A similar lawsuit was filed Monday by the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners.

A 1982 law established the nuclear waste fund fees. The law said the federal government should be responsible for collecting radioactive waste, but required the nuclear power industry to pay for the service.

Since then, nuclear power companies and their consumers have contributed about $31 billion to the government, including interest, NARUC says. The federal government has not yet developed a way to store the waste.

Energy Department officials say they need to continue collecting the fees because they'll eventually develop a long-term storage solution. And when they do, it's likely to be expensive.

    --By Tennille Tracy, Dow Jones Newswires; 202-862-6619; tennille.tracy@dowjones.com
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