A federal judge has awarded Maine Yankee $35.7 million in damages for being stuck with spent fuel the Department of Energy was supposed to take away, according to a Maine Yankee press release.

The damages cover the fuel still being in Wiscasset from 2003 to 2008, the November 14 release states. Earlier this year, the federal government reimbursed Maine Yankee for the fuel being in town from 1998 to 2002. The earlier reimbursement came to nearly $160 million divided between Maine Yankee, Connecticut Yankee and Yankee Atomic.

The latest awards to the three companies come to about $235.4 million, according to the the release.

“We urge the federal government to fulfill its commitment to remove this material from our sites without further delay ...,” said Wayne Norton, Maine Yankee's chief nuclear officer and president of Connecticut Yankee and Yankee Atomic.

The three companies are now going after additional damages in recently filed claims, for the fuel still being onsite in the years 2009 to 2012.

At a September 26 meeting of Maine Yankee's Community Advisory Panel, members predicted the waste will remain in Wiscasset for many years to come.

The former nuclear power plant’s waste is sitting in above-ground casks on the Bailey Point peninsula. The federal government has not yet settled on a site to take that waste and the spent fuel from other nuclear plants.

Meanwhile, Maine Yankee, owned by Central Maine Power and eight other utilities, is still paying to store the waste.

 In the next three years, a total of about $74 million from the earlier award of nearly $160 million is expected to go to Maine Yankee's nine owners, Maine Yankee spokesman Eric Howes said November 15.

The government could still appeal the latest round of awards, Howes said.

The U.S. Department of Justice, which is representing the energy department in the case, did not immediately respond to a question on whether or not it will appeal the new ruling.