NY law prohibiting radwaste in Hudson River is about property, not safety, state tells court

With less than a month left to brief the court, attorneys for New York said the state’s ban on discharging irradiated water from shuttered nuclear plants does not violate federal law.

For that reason, attorneys for the state said in a Nov. 8 court filing, the U.S. District Court for the New York Southern District should rule for the state, which in April was sued by Holtec International over the 2023 state ban.

Holtec argued that New York is not allowed to regulate radioactive waste, but New York said, most recently in supporting documents for its motion for summary judgment, that its state legislature was not regulating waste but looking out for the net worth of its residents who live near the Hudson River.

“The purpose of the Discharge Law is to protect the economy and property values of the Hudson River Valley in New York,” the state wrote in its Nov. 8 response to an earlier case filing by Holtec.

Holec will get the last word in the back-and-forth briefing before the court, with replies due Dec. 6, according to the docket. Both parties have asked the court to decide the case based on these briefings.

New York in 2023 banned the discharge of irradiated wastewater into the Hudson, even has Holtec was decommissioning the three-reactor Indian Point Energy Center Indian Point Energy Center in Buchanen, N.Y., on the banks of the Hudson about 50 miles upriver from downtown Manhattan.

Holtec said the inability to discharge irradiated water from decommissioning would delay the Jupiter, Fla.-based company’s cleanup of the plant.

New York’s ban includes financial penalties: $25,000 a day for first-time offenses, $50,000 daily for second-time offenses, and $150,000 a day for subsequent offenses.