The body charged with overseeing the closure and decommissioning of the Indian Point nuclear power plant in New York’s Westchester County says May’s planned releases of spent fuel pools will be paused.
The announcement by the Indian Point Closure Task Force and Decommissioning Oversight Board comes after outcry from numerous public officials over Holtec’s plan to release treated wastewater into the Hudson River, three months earlier than the previously announced timeline. Holtec’s plans call for disposing more than a million gallons of wastewater into the Hudson as part of the decommissioning of Indian Point, which went offline two years ago.
The task force says the pause will allow time for state and federal regulators to analyze the spent fuel and answer important questions.
“Holtec’s cooperation with the State to sample and analyze the treated spent fuel pool water before it proceeds with discharges is an important step toward improving the transparency of the spent fuel pool dewatering process, which is a necessary part of decommissioning,” said Tom Congdon, Chair of the Indian Point Closure Task Force and Decommissioning Oversight Board, in a statement Thursday evening. “Holtec’s agreement to pause the partial dewatering planned for May is also an important step toward rebuilding trust in the community. We urge Holtec to meaningfully engage with the elected officials in the region and to respond to their concerns, while staying true to the key public-interest principle of a safe, prompt, and thorough decommissioning of Indian Point. While releases of treated spent fuel pool water occur under the auspices of the federal government, that does not relieve Holtec of its responsibility to partner with the host community to address local concerns about various aspects of the decommissioning process.”
