SCOTTSBORO — The 2½ -year courtroom battle involving the Bellefonte Nuclear Plant is going to last a while longer.

Construction on TVA’s Bellefonte Nuclear Plant has been halted since 1988. (Photos/Steve Babin)

U.S. District Judge Liles Burke has denied motions of summary from the Tennessee Valley Authority and Nuclear Development LLC after each side presented oral arguments in February. No trial date has been set.

In his order, Burke cited disputes of material fact and concluded that case could not be decided a matter of law.

This latest update comes almost five years after an agreement to sell the twin-reactor nuclear plant near Scottsboro, was negotiated between the TVA and real estate developer Franklin Haney and his company, Nuclear Development.

Since Haney agreed to pay $111 million for the plant in 2016, the deal has been met with constant roadblocks, adding to the plant’s complicated history.

The deal was initially met with enthusiasm from all parties involved.

“Today marks the first step of an exciting new journey for the people of Alabama and Tennessee …,” Haney said of the deal. “This project will bring new life to the region by creating thousands of jobs while providing assured access to reliable, affordable, zero-emission energy.”

Since then, TVA and Nuclear Development have accused each other of breach of contract, negligence and more. The largest issue remaining is a disagreement between the two sides over construction permits for the plant that must be issued by the NRC.

A day before the closing date outlined in the original deal, Nov. 14, 2018, TVA sent a letter to Nuclear Development informing them they would not be completing the sale due to Nuclear Development failing to secure all the necessary permits required by the Atomic Energy Act. TVA attorney Matthew Lembke said moving forward with the sale would have been “illegal” and this all stems due to Nuclear Development’s lack of diligence.

However, those representing Nuclear Development said they believed every obligation had been met on their end. Company attorney Larry Blust responded to TVA’s letter with one of his own.

“Nuclear Development has complied with all of its requirements under the Agreement,” he wrote. “It is TVA that has not.”

They said TVA brought up the issue regarding the permits just six days before the original closing date and that these permits should not void the sale.

In April 2019, the agency responsible for the permits responded to Nuclear Development’s permit application and said, “Supplemental information is necessary to enable the staff to make an independent assessment.”

Nuclear Development has already paid more than $30 million of the total costs.

After TVA refused the sale, Haney responded by suing the federal authority for breach of contract. TVA sought to have the lawsuit dismissed entirely but this motion was denied in May 2019.

In his 17-page opinion, Judge Burke said, “Nuclear Development has sufficiently stated a claim for breach of contract, and the court simply does not have enough information before it to determine the question of whether the remedy of specific performance would violate federal law.”

TVA began building the plant in 1974 and stopped work in 1988 after spending some $6 billion on the project.