The state of New York is objecting to a request by power company Entergy for federal approval to reduce staffing at the Indian Point Energy Center as its two remaining operational reactors are retired over the next 16 months.
Three separate state agencies have reviewed the plan, filed last April with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. It calls for culling around 50 positions in two stages, as Indian Point reactor Units 2 and 3 are retired and defueled.
“The State of New York strenuously objects to that timing and proposal,” Janice Dean, deputy counsel at the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), wrote in a Jan. 9 letter to Rich Guzman, senior project manager for Indian Point at the NRC’s Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation. She noted that the Westchester County power plant is 24 miles north of New York City.
“A spent fuel pool accident at Indian Point could have unique and devastating impacts on the New York metropolitan area, that would be unlike the impacts at any other site in the country,” according to Dean. “Accordingly, until such time that fuel from the reactors is secured in dry cask storage, and therefore any potential risk has been truly minimized, the State of New York’s position is that all on-site and off-site emergency response capabilities should be maintained at current levels.”
Entergy announced in 2017 it would retire Indian Point Unit 2 by April 30 of this year, followed by Unit 3 by the end of April 2021. Unit 1 has been shuttered since 1974.
The New Orleans-based company plans to sell the plant to New Jersey energy technology company Holtec International. The new owner would then possess the decommissioning trusts for Indian Point’s three reactors, along with all responsibility for cleanup and management of used reactor fuel.
In its 2019 filing, Entergy asked the NRC to by April 16 of this year approve the proposed license amendments allowing the staffing reductions.
