Indian Point decommissioning, explained:
Continuing our push for a safe, transparent, community-centered cleanup
December 11, 2025
Larissa Liebmann
Staff Attorney
Key takeaways
- Holtec, the company that owns Indian Point, has moved all the spent nuclear fuel into onsite long-term storage and is dismantling the reactors.
- Due to a legal agreement reached in 2021 with New York State and Riverkeeper, Holtec is required to go beyond federal standards in tracking down and removing other radioactive contamination and hazardous materials.
- Holtec claims that the cleanup will take longer than first projected, and Riverkeeper will keep pushing for transparency, strong safety standards, and a thorough, community-minded decommissioning.
In 2021, after five decades of legal battles, Riverkeeper celebrated our victory resulting in the shutdown of the final nuclear reactor at Indian Point, an aged facility that long presented a threat to clean water, wildlife, and local communities. However, decommissioning and cleaning up the site takes many years, and Riverkeeper is deeply engaged in this process to ensure it is completed safely and with the best interests of local communities and the environment in mind.
The goal of decommissioning — which the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) oversees — is to remove sources of radiation, or to contain the sources onsite.
In addition to NRC standards, Holtec must comply with terms of an agreement that the company signed as the result of a legal challenge from Riverkeeper and other groups in 2021. As part of the agreement, Holtec committed to cleaning up the site to standards set by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, including meeting lower radiation levels than required by the NRC and addressing non-radiological hazardous waste contamination, such as heavy metals. Much of this remediation is expected to be done at the same time as decommissioning. The agreement also includes enhanced monitoring, reporting, and public engagement requirements, including the creation of the Decommissioning Oversight Board (DOB). Riverkeeper holds a seat on the DOB.
Holtec recently raised new alarms by floating the idea of repowering Indian Point, or siting a data center powered by a new small modular reactor there. However, the 2021 legal agreement prohibits any new nuclear project without full support from state and local governments, which they currently do not have.
At nuclear power plants, spent fuel, which is the waste product generated by nuclear reactions, generates a great deal of heat and usually has the highest levels of radioactivity. Because of this, it is first stored in large pools of water for at least a year. After that, the fuel can be moved to “dry cask storage,” which involves placing the fuel in metal canisters surrounded by more layers of metal or concrete to limit the levels of radiation emitted. The NRC requires these casks be monitored for leaks. Dry cask storage is much safer than spent fuel pool storage.
As of October 2023, Holtec moved all the spent fuel from Indian Point into dry cask storage. These casks are kept onsite, as the United States does not have any designated place for plants to dispose of spent nuclear fuel. Holtec is also in the process of dismantling the nuclear reactors. Pieces of the reactors are stored in the spent fuel pools before being shipped offsite to landfills designed to handle reactor components and contaminated soil.
Under NRC requirements, Holtec must identify other sources of radiation onsite and remove the contamination. Holtec is required to submit annual decommissioning status reports to the NRC, state, and local governments, and provides updates to the public at Indian Point Decommissioning Oversight Board meetings.
Once a nuclear power plant site has been decontaminated of radiation to meet NRC standards, the site is no longer regulated by the NRC. Holtec originally projected that decommissioning would be complete by 2033-2036, but later announced an eight year delay.
Riverkeeper will continue to hold Holtec accountable for a safe and efficient cleanup at the Indian Point site.
Related campaigns
Beyond Indian Point
Monitoring the shutdown of a nuclear power plant on the banks of the Hudson that killed billions of fish each year
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Protecting iconic species vital to our local ecosystems
Protecting and restoring habitats
The Hudson River watershed is home to a breathtaking diversity of life. Protecting and restoring our aquatic habitats is critical for their renewal and for a healthy future for all life in the watershed
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