Holtec International last week sued New York over a law the state passed in 2023 that would fine anyone who discharges irradiated wastewater into the Hudson River, a court filing shows.
The law constitutes “blatant infringement on the federal government’s exclusive right to regulate the discharge of radioactive materials from nuclear power plants,” Holtec wrote in a complaint filed Thursday in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
The state of New York had not filed an answer as of Monday morning.
Holtec is decommissioning the three-reactor Indian Point facility in Buchanan, N.Y., about 50 miles upstream on the Hudson from downtown Manhattan. The company bought Indian Point from Entergy in 2022. The last Indian Point reactor shut down in 2021.
Under New York’s discharge ban, Holtec would face escalating fines for discharging irradiated wastewater into the Hudson. For a first time offense, Holtec would pay a $25,000 per-day fine. For second-time offenses, the penalty would increase to $50,000. For subsequent offenses, Holtec would get a fine of $150,000 a day, under the new law.
Wastewater discharge during decommissioning has become an issue for Holtec at both Indian Point and the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station in Massachusetts.
In both instances, Holtec has dug in and resisted state-level bans on discharges, saying that federal authority in such nuclear matters preempts state authority. However, the company halted planned discharges ahead of the state bans.
