The Nuclear Regulatory Commission will approve the sale of the NYC-area Indian Point power plant from Entergy Corp. to Holtec Decommissioning International.
The NRC is expected to issue an order Monday allowing Entergy to transfer the plant’s license to the New Jersey-based decommissioning company for dismantling, according to NRC documents.
Entergy agreed in February 2019 to sell Indian Point Units 1, 2 and 3 to Holtec for decommissioning once they closed. Entergy agreed to transfer ownership of its licenses, spent fuel, decommissioning liabilities, and Nuclear Decommissioning Trusts (NDT) for the three units to Holtec.
Holtec is already in the license transfer process with two other Northeastern-area power plants — at Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating Station in New Jersey and Pilgrim Nuclear Station in Massachusetts.
In January 2017, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo agreed to shut down the Indian Point plant 14 years earlier than anticipated, claiming the facility “has presented numerous threats to the safety of over 20 million residents and the environmental health of the area.” Indian Point’s Unit 2 shut down in April. Unit 3 is expected to shut down April 2021. Unit 1 shut down in 1974 after an emergency cooling system failure.
Sens. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) and New York members of Congress sent a letter to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission last month asking for a hearing before the license transfer application, but did not receive one.
