In January 2017, Riverkeeper won one of its longest battles — which spanned over five decades — when it joined New York State and Entergy in a historic agreement to close the aging and dangerous Indian Point nuclear power plant by April 2021.
Indian Point’s Unit 2 reactor, which went into service in August 1974, ceased operating at the end of April 2020, and the final reactor, Unit 3, shut down in April 2021.
In anticipation of the shutdown, Riverkeeper has prioritized efforts to ensure New York will have clean, renewable replacement energy after losing the 2,060 MW from Indian Point, and there’s good news on that front, too. The New York Independent System Operator — which coordinates the distribution of our electricity supply — confirmed that New York would have enough replacement power to supplant Indian Point’s output once it closed. Since the closure agreement was signed, enough clean energy and energy efficiency has come onto the grid to replace the first unit.
Further, Riverkeeper remains dedicated to protecting the Hudson River and the health and safety of the surrounding communities. We are building on our decades of advocacy around Indian Point to ensure that the decommissioning of this dangerous and antiquated facility is completed with the best interests of the local communities and environment in mind. Riverkeeper supports the prompt completion of the decommissioning of Indian Point, however, not at the expense of our safety.
Holtec International purchased Indian Point from Entergy on May 28, 2021 and is responsible for the decommissioning of the former nuclear power plant. Decommissioning the plant will include removing equipment and structures containing nuclear contaminants and safely storing spent nuclear fuel onsite. At a cost of approximately $2.3 billion, Holtec estimated the bulk of decommissioning work at Indian Point will be completed by 2033, and is now trying to delay the completion date.
On August 18th, Governor Hochul signed the Save the Hudson bill, which prohibits discharges of any radiological substance into the Hudson River in connection with the decommissioning of a nuclear power plant. This law makes it illegal for Holtec to discharge radioactive wastewater into the Hudson River. The wastewater contains tritium, a radioactive isotope with links to cancer. Riverkeeper is closely monitoring the State’s implementation of this groundbreaking law to ensure it is carried out as intended.
We continue to call for the secure on-site storage of the contaminated water on the Indian Point site for at least a period of 12 years. This would allow for one half-life to elapse and reduce the radioactivity of the spent fuel pool water, and protect the economic interests of the state while alternative disposal methods are thoroughly evaluated.
As of October 16, 2023 all spent fuel at Indian Point nuclear power plant has been moved to dry cask storage, which means the risk of a catastrophic nuclear accident is now greatly reduced. Since we’re depending on the casks to keep us safe, Riverkeeper’s goal is to increase monitoring. The current “aging management protocol” only looks at the single most vulnerable cask – which is impossible to identify – every five years.
Moreover, Riverkeeper is committed to ensuring containment and remediation of contaminated groundwater, and that Holtect manages the funds from the decommissioning trust fund appropriately.
Riverkeeper holds the “representative of the environmental community” seat on the Indian Point Decommissioning Oversight Board, and provides expertise on issues related to water quality as well as impacts to wildlife and surrounding ecosystems.
Indian Point’s antiquated once-through water cooling system killed over 1 billion fish and fish larvae each year. The system withdrew 2.42 billion gallons per day from the Hudson and heated it up to a deadly temperature before discharging. Fish were killed when they were impinged on filter screens, entrained through the cooling system, and scalded by hot water. Evidence indicates that over 40 years, such slaughter and habitat degradation contributed to the decline of numerous important fish species in the River.
Also, the pools at the plant that house spent nuclear fuel have been leaking toxic, radioactive water into the ground since the 1990s, contaminating the local soil and the Hudson River.
The simple answer is that there is enough energy on the grid to shut down Indian Point today. It can and must be closed without additional natural gas or other carbon based fuel. When operating, Indian Point has the capacity to provide about 5% of New York State’s power. As evidenced by the reliability of the electric grid during Indian Point’s many unplanned emergency shutdowns, the grid would remain intact even if the plant shut down permanently tomorrow.
New York Independent System Operator, New York State’s grid operator, confirmed that, in 2021, when Indian Point closes, other power sources coupled with energy efficiency improvements are already set to take up virtually all the slack resulting from the plant’s shutdown. Analysis by an independent consultant working with Riverkeeper and NRDC concludes that, when Indian Point’s 2,000 megawatts go offline in 2021, measures already in place put us less than 50 megawatts away from full replacement energy.
We’ve been fighting to stop Entergy from transferring Indian Point’s ownership — and the $2 billion decommissioning trust fund — to Holtec, a company with a scandalous corporate past, little experience in decommissioning nuclear power plants, and dubious experience in their core business, spent fuel management. We’ve demanded that Governor Cuomo stop Holtec from taking over and that Entergy select a qualified company. Additionally, we are ramping up to oppose the license transfer before both the State Public Service Commission and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Meanwhile, we’re pushing state legislation establishing a board to supervise site reuse, cleanup, and oversight of the decommissioning fund. Finally, we are asking the NRC to establish safety oversight panels that have real power.
Every exposure to radiation poses health risks, including programmed cell death, genetic mutations, The New York State Indian Point Closure Task Force is working with labor leaders to achieve a just transition for the workforce. According to state Labor Department Deputy Commissioner Mario Musolino:
Nearly 40 percent of the workforce will be eligible for retirement in 2021, though it is unknown how many will choose that option.
About 35 percent are trained utility workers whose skills are easily transferable to other plants.
Some 20 percent are Teamsters who should be able to get other union assignments.
Many other employees work in the trades and have transferable skills.
Riverkeeper is advocating for a prompt and safe decommissioning and dismantling of the plant, which will allow a significant portion of workers to stay on during the many years-long and labor intensive process.
Also, according to E2 — a group of business leaders, investors and others who advocate for policies that benefit the economy and the environment — there are over 85,000 clean energy jobs in New York State, with a growth rate of roughly 6 percent. New York City alone has 57,000 residents working in clean energy. Energy efficiency accounts for the lion’s share of the state’s clean energy workers, employing roughly 80 percent of the sector. And when the state doubles the amount of clean electricity generated under the new 50 percent Clean Energy Standard, the economic benefits and jobs will grow even more rapidly. New job opportunities will come from renewable energy, like wind, solar, and fuel cells, in addition to energy efficiency.
