The Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Wednesday declined to grant a hearing in the Indian Point license transfer as requested by concerned New York congressional representatives.
Sens. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) and New York members of Congress sent a second letter to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission last week asking for a hearing before the Indian Point Energy Center license transfer application.
New York congressionals also asked for a hearing in January. The state of New York and the cities and towns surrounding the facility, such as the town of Cortlandt, the village of Buchanan, and the Hendrick Hudson School District, all filed petitions to intervene in February.
Because the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) “received multiple requests for hearing on the matter, your letter bears on what is now a contested adjudication before the Commission and it would be inappropriate for the Commission to discuss the matter at this time,” the NRC wrote in a Wednesday’s letter to the lawmakers from the Empire State. “This is because the Commission must remain impartial during the pendency of the adjudication. The hearing requests and arguments made concerning the timing of a hearing will be considered in accordance with the agency’s procedures.”
The locales and their representatives are concerned that a decision on the license transfer requests will be issued before the hearing requests are resolved. The NRC said in April it intends to finish its evaluation of the license transfer application from owner Entergy to prospective buyer Holtec International by the end of 2020.
“This is deeply disturbing when coupled with the fact that, over the last 8 months, the NRC has failed to act on New York’s and the Town of Cortlandt, Village of Buchanan, and the Hendrick Hudson School District’s petitions to intervene,” Schumer, Gillibrand and others wrote in the letter. “We now face the prospect that the decision by NRC staff to transfer the plant’s license and grant regulatory exemptions may well be made before the various stakeholders representing the communities surrounding Indian Point have had an opportunity to fully present its contentions to the Commission in a hearing.”
Such a situation would be “wholly unacceptable” to constituents surrounding the facility in the Lower Hudson Valley, the letter said, asking the NRC to hold off on approving the license transfer until the Commission has “fully and fairly” considered each pending petition.
Entergy owns the three-reactor facility in the village of Buchanan, 24 miles from New York City. The company retired Reactor Unit 2 on April 30 and plans to retire Unit 3 by April 30, 2021.
