New York state’s elected leaders are leaving no doubt that they have questions and concerns about the planned sale of the soon-to-close Indian Point Energy Center.
As the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Thursday began accepting requests for hearings on the federal license transfers needed for the deal to proceed, New York Attorney General Letitia James said she would ensure – “through legal action if necessary” – that the state has a full voice in the proceeding.
James’ statement comes after three members of New York’s delegation to Congress posed a long list of questions to Holtec International regarding its plans to buy the three-reactor plant from power company Entergy.
The lawmakers submitted their questions to Holtec President and CEO Kris Singh in writing on Nov. 21, 2019. Their letter was posted to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission website last week.
“It is critical that the decommissioning process for Indian Point is properly carried out in a safe and transparent manner and that there is robust, good-faith engagement with federal, state, and local officials and the public,” according to Sens. Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand and Rep. Nita Lowey (all D-N.Y.).
Generally, the three appeared interested in confirming the New Jersey energy technology company has enough money to complete decommissioning of Indian Point’s reactors and that cleanup will be conducted fully and efficiently.
Holtec spokesman Joe Delmar confirmed Thursday the company responded to the letter, but said he could not provide a copy. Copies of the response could also not be immediately obtained from the Congress members’ offices.
“Entergy and Holtec will continue to work with stakeholders, including federal and state regulators, to share information which demonstrates the enormous benefits of Holtec’s plan for the decommissioning of Indian Point decades sooner than would otherwise be possible,” Delmar stated by email. “The Holtec team has substantial experience in decommissioning power plants and managing used nuclear fuel at facilities around the world.”
New Orleans-based Entergy announced in 2017 it would close the final two operational reactors at the Indian Point property in the village of Buchanan: Unit 2 by the end of April of this year and Unit 3 by April 30, 2021. Unit 1 has been shuttered since 1974.
The company hopes to sell all three reactors to Holtec by the third quarter of 2021, pending NRC approval of the transfer of Indian Point’s operations and spent-fuel storage licenses. Holtec says it can complete decommissioning of the property within 15 years at a total cost of $2.3 billion.
Among the questions from Schumer, Gillibrand, and Lowey:
- Whether Holtec plans to seek NRC exemptions that would allow it to use the decommissioning trusts for Indian Point’s reactors for other purposes, such as site restoration or management of the plant’s used fuel. And, if so, whether Holtec has a detailed projection of the expenses for all decommissioning operations.
- A listing of all Holtec subsidiaries and affiliates that would help carry out decommissioning at Indian Point, along with their prior experience in decommissioning of other facilities in the United States.
- How Holtec will ensure Indian Point gets “the attention necessary to ensure a swift and thorough decommissioning” even as the company buys an increasing number of other plants for the same purpose.
- Holtec’s anticipated approach for security and emergency preparedness at the site, including exemptions from NRC requirements in those areas.
Founded in 1986 by Singh, Holtec has a long history in management of spent fuel from nuclear power plants, but it is new to managing a full decommissioning project.
In 2019, the company acquired two newly shuttered facilities: the Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating Station in New Jersey from power company Exelon and the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station in Massachusetts from Entergy. It also plans to buy Entergy’s Palisades Power Plant in Michigan, which is scheduled for retirement in 2022. While Holtec has never publicly discussed purchase prices, the cost is likely nominal for taking a contaminated property off its owner’s hands.
In all cases, including Indian Point, Holtec assumes full responsibility for decommissioning, site restoration, and spent fuel management. It also acquires the decommissioning trust fund for each reactor, a source of anticipated profit once the company’s work is done.
The three trusts for Indian Point’s reactors are projected together to have a balance of over $1.9 billion at the beginning of 2021. As they will accrue additional earnings revenue over the years, Holtec expects they will have money left over when decommissioning is complete.
Holtec subsidiaries would be the licensed owners and operators for Indian Point and other sites. The actual decommissioning would be carried out by Comprehensive Decommissioning International, a Holtec joint venture with Canadian engineering company SNC-Lavalin.
The New Jersey deal went through smoothly, but the commonwealth of Massachusetts has pushed against the Pilgrim sale at the NRC and in federal court. Among its primary concerns are whether Holtec has enough money to complete decommissioning and whether there has been sufficient environmental review of the project.
That also appears to be on the mind of the New York attorney general.
“It is essential that the decommissioning of Indian Point be rapid, complete, and safe. In that light, I have multiple, grave concerns about the application now before the Nuclear Regulatory Commission that would hand off the responsibility for Indian Point’s decommissioning to a company with absolutely no experience in such an enormous, complex, and consequential undertaking,” James said in a prepared statement Thursday.
In the press release, the New York Attorney General’s Office noted that James had spearheaded the Jan. 17 filing of an amicus brief from 12 states in support of Massachusetts’ challenge in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit of the NRC’s approval of license transfers for the Pilgrim plant reactor and dry-storage pad.
Staff at the federal agency approved the transfers in August, after which Entergy and Holtec quickly sealed the sale of the single-reactor property on Cape Cod. All of that happened before the NRC commissioners ruled on petitions for intervention and hearings in the proceeding by Massachusetts and local advocacy group Pilgrim Watch – which they still had not done as of Friday.
Theoretically, the commission can approve the petitions and reverse the staff decision. However, it has already rejected Massachusetts’ request for a stay on the license transfer. Meanwhile, the commonwealth has taken the agency to court.
“The Commonwealth’s petition addresses issues of vital concern to amici States. NRC’s refusal to hear from the Commonwealth before approving a license transfer that so significantly altered the license terms violates the [Atomic Energy Act], NRC rules, and the Administrative Procedure
Act,” according to the brief from New York, Connecticut, Illinois, Iowa, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Pennsylvania, and Vermont.
James has not said, though, whether her office would file a petition to formally intervene in the license-transfer application process for Indian Point.
On Thursday, the NRC started accepting comments and requests for intervention on the application.
Petitions for intervention can be filed by Feb. 12 by “any persons (petitioner) whose interest may be affected by this action,” the NRC said in a Federal Register notice. If their petition is approved, stakeholders would become parties to the proceeding – able to argue contentions against the license transfer at a hearing.
The Ossining, N.Y.-based environmental organization Riverkeeper is considering filing an intervention petition, Legal Director Richard Webster told RadWaste Monitor on Thursday. The contentions it might feature are still being determined, but he noted objections Riverkeeper has already raised on Holtec’s acquisition of Indian Point – including the company’s limited experience to date in decommissioning a nuclear power plant and its 60-day prohibition in 2010 on doing business with the federal Tennessee Valley Authority following a bribery case.
Comments are due no later than Feb. 24. They can be filed at regulations.gov, Docket ID NRC-2020-0021; by email, to [email protected]; by fax, to Secretary, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, at 301-415-1677; by mail, to Secretary, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001, ATTN: Rulemakings and Adjudications Staff; or in person, at NRC headquarters, 11555 Rockville Pike in Rockville, Md.
