In a move with ramifications for Holtec International’s decommissioning of the Indian Point Energy Center, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) on Friday signed into law a state ban on discharging radioactive wastewater into the Hudson River.
Holtec would now face escalating fines for discharges into the Hudson. For a first time offense, Holtec would pay a $25,000 per-day fine. For a second-time offense, the penalty increases to $50,000. For subsequent offenses, Holtec would get slapped with a fine of $150,000 a day, under the new law.
Indian Point Energy, in Buchanan, N.Y., is about 50 miles upriver from downtown Manhattan. Holtec International, Jupiter, Fla., bought the plant in 2022 from Entergy to decommission it. Decommissioning should be mostly done by the 2030s at a cost of $2 billion or so. The site could be released for other uses by the 2060s, Holtec estimates.
This is the second time this year that a state government has blocked Holtec from disposing of irradiated wastewater from a decommissioning project into local waters.
In July, Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey’s (D) administration tentatively determined discharges from the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Plant would violate existing Massachusetts law.
Holtec has said that state-level bans on irradiated wastewater discharges are preempted by federal law because only the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission may regulate nuclear power plants.
