The US Supreme Court has rejected a request to hear an appeal in a long-running lawsuit that accused an Apollo nuclear fuels plant of causing cancer in Armstrong County residents.
The court denied hearing the appeal to reinstate lawsuits that were filed by about 70 people from the Apollo area against the Babcock and Wilcox Power Generation Group and the Atlantic Richfield company, the operators of the Nuclear Materials and Equipment Corporation of NUMEC Uranium producing plant in Apollo and a plutonium plant in Parks Township. The plant was in operation between 1957 and the mid 80’s. The case has been tied up in legal battles since for over two decades, and the Supreme Court’s decision ended an eight-year federal court case that never came up for trial.
The first series of lawsuits connected with the case, which lasted 14 years in federal court and ended in a settlement of over $80 million. The companies have claimed that their operations did not cause any cancer cases in Apollo and the surrounding areas.
