The Nuclear Regulatory Commission wants Holtec International to explain why the company has proposed giving itself the power to manage investments from a shuttered New York nuclear plant’s decommissioning trust fund — something the agency said is illegal.
In a request for additional information document sent to Holtec Friday, NRC took issue with a provision in Holtec’s master trust fund agreement for Indian Point Energy Center that appeared to allow the company to appoint itself as an investment manager for the decommissioning trust.
Such authority would allow Holtec to direct investments from its own slice of the overall fund, according to the company’s guidelines.
That “appears to conflict” with federal regulations governing the company’s ability to manage investments made through the fund, NRC said, citing section 50.75 in Part 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations.
Under the regulation, plant licensees are prohibited from “being engaged as investment manager” for decommissioning trust funds, or from “giving day-to-day management direction of the funds’ investments or direction on individual investments by the funds,” the NRC said in its letter to Holtec.
NRC asked Holtec to clarify whether the company itself could serve as an investment manager for the trust fund. The agency also requested more information on what assets Holtec would legally be allowed to invest in.
A spokesperson for NRC told the Exchange Monitor in an email Monday that agency staff would make a determination on whether Holtec’s trust fund guidelines meet federal regulations “after the staff has the additional information.”
The spokesperson did not comment about when NRC became aware of Holtec’s plan to manage the fund.
Holtec, which took ownership of the Buchanan, N.Y., Indian Point plant after it shut down in April 2021, has already faced questions about its planned use of the facility’s decommissioning trust fund. The company reached a settlement with the state of New York in May 2021 which, among other things, required it to keep no less than $400 million in the Indian Point fund during decommissioning.
Holtec has said that it could finish decommissioning Indian Point by 2023 or so.
