Holtec International faces a criminal probe for “misrepresentations” made in applying for millions of dollars’ worth of tax credits from its home state of New Jersey, a state agency said this week.
The New Jersey Economic Development Authority cited the investigation in a June 22 filing for its motion to dismiss a Holtec lawsuit over frozen state tax credits. The matter was first reported by Politico.
The Camden, N.J.-based energy technology company sued the Economic Development Authority in March in New Jersey Superior Court, claiming it illegally froze the $26 million tax credit due in 2018. That represents 10% of the $260 million in incentive credits the state committed in 2014 as Holtec advanced its plans for a new 47-acre manufacturing and research facility in Camden. That complex opened in 2017.
The Economic Development Authority said Monday it had not actually rejected the 2018 tax credit.
“Rather … the approval of Holtec’s 2018 tax credit is pending while NJEDA evaluates Holtec’s continued eligibility for a Grow NJ award, because of the company’s recent admission that it made false statements to NJEDA when the company applied for the award,” the court filing says. “Holtec’s misrepresentations – which include its failure to disclose a prior government debarment by the Tennessee Valley Authority (the “TVA”) for bribing an official of that agency first came to light during an investigation conducted by the Governor’s Task Force on the Economic Development Authority’s Tax Incentive Program, and they are now the subject of an ongoing criminal investigation.”
The filing does not provide any additional detail about the investigation. Neither the Economic Development Authority nor the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office provided any further information by deadline Friday for RadWaste Monitor. Holtec spokesman Joe Delmar said the company was not aware of a criminal investigation.
In 2001, Holtec secured a contract to build a spent-fuel storage facility at the Tennessee Valley Authority’s (TVA) Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant in Alabama. The TVA Inspector General’s Office later investigated the company’s relationship with TVA Supervisor John Symonds, who in 2007 pleaded guilty to accepting tens of thousands of dollars from a Holtec contractor. Holtec in 2010 received a two-month prohibition on doing business with the TVA.
In the March lawsuit, Holtec characterized its failure to note the situation with the federally owned corporation as an inadvertent error that happened nearly two decades ago. It noted that it in 2012 received a $300 million contract from the Tennessee Valley Authority for dry-cask storage of used fuel.
Established in 1986, the company has moved aggressively in recent years to expand its position in the industry for nuclear waste storage and power plant decommissioning.
Holtec in March 2017 applied for a Nuclear Regulatory Commission license to build and operate a facility in New Mexico for spent fuel from commercial nuclear reactors. The federal agency is expected in 2021 to rule on the application.
Holtec in 2019 bought and began decommissioning two nuclear power plants: the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station in Massachusetts and the Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating Station in New Jersey. However, a state Superior Court judge on June 2 ordered the latter project temporarily suspended amid a dispute between Holtec and the facility’s host jurisdiction, Lacey Township, The SandPiper reported this week. The dispute has been resolved, Delmar said by email.
“Holtec and Lacey Township had a disagreement about jurisdiction over work being done at the ISFSI [independent spent fuel storage installation] and other areas that we believed fell under the NRC license. Lacey Township made a legal filing to reinforce a stop worker order. The judge allowed us to proceed with work under the NRC license (including ISFSI) but requested we stop work in other areas. At the same time, we filed a legal response,” he wrote. “Corresponding with the legal filings back and forth, we continued to have discussions with Lacey Township to come to a resolution. This past Wednesday, June 24th, Holtec and Lacey Township resolved our differences and came to an agreement that is being finalized. In turn, both legal teams are working with the court to dismiss the legal filings. We look forward to working together with Lacey Township on the safe and efficient decommissioning of Oyster Creek. The legal back and forth had no impact on the decommissioning schedule.”
Holtec has said its joint venture with SNC-Lavalin, Comprehensive Decommissioning International, should complete decommissioning within eight years. That would leave only the spent-fuel storage pad.
