In a statement before Thanksgiving, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo condemned the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s long-telegraphed approval of the sale of Entergy’s Indian Point nuclear plant to Holtec Decommissioning.
“Cleaning up Indian Point will be complicated and expensive, and for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to act without considering New York’s request for a hearing is unacceptable and denies New Yorkers the public and transparent process they deserve,” Cuomo wrote in a statement Nov. 24, one day after the commission announced its decision.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) implied in a statement days before that it planned to approve the sale, which has been in the works since 2018, when the companies announced the deal. Members of New York’s congressional delegation, led by Sens. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), sent two letters to the NRC over the past year — one in February and one in October — asking for a hearing before the commission approved the license transfer.
“The Governor’s desire to ensure that the decommissioning process is done quickly and places a priority on safety fully aligns with Entergy’s and Holtec’s vision for Indian Point post-shutdown,” Holtec spokesman Joseph Delmar told RadWaste Monitor in an email last week.
Neither request was immediately granted, but the NRC last week said that “the transfer approval is subject to the Commission’s authority to rescind, modify, or condition the transfer based on the outcome of any subsequent hearing on the application.”
The NRC has not decided when or if it will hold hearings, spokesman Scott Burnell told RadWaste Monitor in an email last week.
Entergy owns the three-reactor facility in the village of Buchanan, 24 miles from New York City. The company retired Reactor Unit 2 on April 30 and plans to retire Unit 3 by April 30, 2021.
Other petitions to intervene in the license transfer were filed by New York Attorney General Letitia James, who cited financial concerns, and Riverkeeper, a New York-based clean water advocacy group, among others.
In an email to NRC Commissioner Christopher Hanson, dated Nov. 5, Riverkeeper implored the commission to adjudicate pending petitions before approving the licensing of the power plant for decommissioning, citing strong concerns with Holtec.
In the email, Riverkeeper said Holtec’s “past actions show a lack of character, competence, and integrity, as well as the necessary candor, truthfulness and willingness to abide by NRC regulatory requirements.”
The group mentioned Holtec’s failure to accurately file its taxes in an attempt to obtain tax credits, placing the firm under criminal investigation for perjury in New Jersey.
“In addition, a lawsuit filed by Lacey Township makes it plain that Holtec willfully violated local laws and did not stop certain work at Oyster Creek until the municipality obtained an injunction from a court,” Riverkeeper said.
A federal judge upheld the township’s suit in October.
