The New York county executive with jurisdiction over the recently-shuttered Indian Point Energy Center urged federal legislators to find disposal solutions for the site’s spent fuel inventory, according to a series of requests published by the county office this week.
New York’s legislators and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission should also continue their oversight over the former Buchanan, N.Y. power plant to ensure that Holtec International decommissions the site safely and with adequate community involvement, Westchester County executive George Latimer said Monday.
Latimer’s requests were part of a list of the county’s priorities for New York’s federal delegation. Previously he was an active participant in the debate surrounding Indian Point’s license transfer to Holtec from Entergy. In February he penned a letter to the New York Public Service Commission urging them to step in and block the sale.
“Without a solution by the federal government, every nuclear power plant, including Indian Point, becomes a de facto long term radioactive waste storage site,” Latimer said. “Westchester County urges the federal government to make a decision on how best to safely transport and dispose of the plant’s waste once Indian Point closes in 2021.”
Industry is also pushing for the federal government to take a more active role in nuclear waste disposal solutions. In a Monday letter to Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, a coalition of industry groups including the American Nuclear Society and the Nuclear Energy Institute asked that the Department of Energy staff a federal nuclear waste office.
Meanwhile on Capitol Hill, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) and a bipartisan group of legislators reintroduced a bill last week that aims to provide financial assistance to communities like Westchester County that are stuck playing host to stranded nuclear waste. At deadline Tuesday for Weapons Complex Morning Briefing the proposed measure hadn’t moved beyond the introductory phase.
Holtec officially took ownership of the plant over from Entergy Friday after the utilities company wrapped up at Indian Point Unit 3, the site’s last operational reactor. Holtec will start decommissioning the power plant immediately, according to a Friday press release.
Indian Point’s shutdown comes as Holtec and Entergy, the site’s previous owner, reached a settlement agreement with the state of New York and a coalition of other stakeholders over its sale in April. The New York Public Service Commission will debate the proposed settlement — which would see New York drop its suit against the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in the D.C. circuit court of appeals — in a future commission session, according to an April 15 press release from the office of Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D).
New York’s Jan. 22 lawsuit challenged Holtec’s financial ability to decommission Indian Point. In particular, state attorney general Letitia James took issue with the company’s use of a roughly $2 billion trust fund set aside for the plant’s decommissioning, which NRC allowed Holtec to use for other activities, like spent fuel management and site remediation, via a regulatory exemption.
Indian Point’s Unit 3 was the last of its three reactors to go dark. Unit 2 went offline late last year, and Unit 1 shut down back in 1974. The plant started producing electricity in 1962.
