Riverkeeper demands NRC deny transfer of Indian Point's license to Holtec International
November 25, 2019
Riverkeeper Team
OSSINING, N.Y. — On Friday, Entergy, the operator of the Indian Point nuclear power plant, and Holtec International, a New Jersey-based firm with a scandalous corporate past, asked the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to approve a transfer of the plant’s license and its $2 billion decommissioning trust fund to Holtec.
Holtec’s recent history makes it the wrong choice to take on the decommissioning of Indian Point. The company was caught bribing workers at the Tennessee Valley Authority, was suspended from contracting with TVA, and then lied about its corporate past to obtain tax breaks from New Jersey. Holtec’s partner, SNC-Lavalin, is also embroiled in a bribery scandal in Canada. Not only does Holtec have limited experience with decommissioning, its spent fuel management system at San Onofre nuclear power plant proved to have serious design flaws, and Holtec has a history of risk-taking with spent nuclear fuel canisters, brought to light by whistleblower actions. Holtec’s illegal and unethical business practices in combination with its lack of experience in nuclear plant decommissioning places an unacceptable risk on the nearby communities who will be residing next to this extremely dangerous and volatile site for generations.
“Riverkeeper demands that the NRC deny the license transfer to Holtec and require that Entergy select a qualified company to take on the arduous tasks of decommissioning, site clean up and management of spent radioactive fuel, while keeping 20 million New Yorkers safe,” said Riverkeeper President Paul Gallay. “Since federal oversight is so weak, we are also counting on Governor Cuomo to assert the state’s jurisdiction to supervise the license transfer, reject Holtec, and ensure that there is robust and transparent oversight of the decommissioning process. New York should do everything in its power to ensure that the reactor site is decommissioned in a safe, effective and prompt manner.”
Contact: Cliff Weathers, Communications Director
cweathers@riverkeeper.org; 845-445-8257
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