The state of New York and other stakeholders involved in an ongoing suit over the sale of Indian Point Energy Center moved to dismiss the case following the approval of a joint settlement, according to recent court filings.
New York State, alongside environmental watchdog Riverkeeper and the towns of Cortlandt and Buchanan, N.Y., will withdraw their petitions against the Nuclear Regulatory Commission if the request to dismiss is approved, according to a motion filed Friday in the D.C. circuit court of appeals.
The motion to dismiss came as Holtec International finalized its purchase of Indian Point from Entergy, also on Friday. The nuclear services company officially took ownership of the Buchanan, N.Y.-based power plant after the New York Public Service Commission unanimously approved a proposed joint settlement agreement between the state, Holtec and Entergy May 19.
If the dismissal is approved by the court, it will close the book on several months of legal challenges to the decommissioning of Indian Point. New York attorney general Letitia James filed the initial complaint Jan. 22.
At deadline Wednesday for Weapons Complex Morning Briefing the court hadn’t ruled on the motion.
Meanwhile, Holtec plans to begin decommissioning the power plant “with immediate effect,” the company said in an April 30 press release. Indian Point shut down for good on the same day after its Unit 3 reactor went offline. The plant’s Unit 2 reactor went dark late last year, and Unit 1 shut down back in 1974. It opened for business in 1962.
