A federal jury has ordered Atlantic Richfield Co (ARCO) and Babcock & Wilcox, the former owners of the old Apollo, Pennsylvania nuclear fuel processing plant, to pay at least $36.5 million in damages for a rash of cancer cases in the town. Punitive damages may also be assessed. Following a month-long trial, ARCO was found negligent on nine out of 10 counts related to the now-closed Nuclear Materials and Equipment Corp plant, which processed nuclear fuel from 1957 to 1986 for Navy submarines. The plant was torn down in the early 1990s. B&W was found negligent on all 10 counts it faced. The case was brought by nearly 100 residents of Apollo, a town of 1900 people.
