Indian Point has one of the largest quantities of irradiated (or “spent”) fuel in the northeast. While plant owners in other countries such as Germany are implementing more robust measures (i.e., hardening facilities) to protect the irradiated fuel onsite, there is inadequate protection for this irradiated fuel in the U.S. There is currently no approved national repository to begin removing it from temporary spent fuel pools located onsite at Indian Point and other U.S. nuclear power plants across the country. Approximately 1500 tons of spent fuel is currently stored in densely packed pools at Indian Point. No containment structures exist over the spent fuel pools; the pools are vulnerable to a loss-of-coolant scenario; mock attack drills reveal accessibility to and vulnerability of spent fuel buildings; and two of the spent fuel pools at Indian Point have been leaking radioactive materials. Entergy plans to begin transferring some of the older spent fuel into dry casks by fall 2007, two years behind schedule. The plan includes placing over 50 casks on a concrete pad with no protective barriers or containment structures. An NRC official, industry whistleblowers, and nuclear safety watchdogs have raised concerns about design flaws with the cask model to be used at Indian Point and about the company’s inadequate quality assurance program.


Since at least August 2005, radioactive contaminants such as tritium and strontium-90 have been leaking from Indian Point's spent fuel pools into the groundwater and the Hudson River. As of January 2007, Entergy and the NRC have not been able to identify the source of the leaks, determine the extent of the leaks, or develop a realistic plan to stop the leaks. In January 2007, the NRC announced that it will continue heightened oversight at Indian Point due to the leaks and Entergy's delays in installing new emergency sirens.

To learn more about this issue in depth, go to Riverkeeper's Indian Point Campaign