In 2019, the company said it would cost them a little over $2.3 billion to decommission the plant. To cover the costs, New York state agreed to give the company a $2.4 billion trust fund paid for by taxpayers. When the site shut down in April of 2021, Holtec became responsible for safely removing all materials from Indian Point and returning it to a usable state in a federally regulated process known as decommissioning. In 2017, an agreement was finally reached with previous owner Enteergy to cease operations for good. One shut down just 12 years into its existence, but the other two remained active until nonprofit Riverkeeper spearheaded a decade-long legal battle to shutter the plant due to environmental and safety concerns. They’re simply looking out for their bottom dollar,” said Santosh Nandabalan from the environmental group Food & Water Watch, which is planning a rally against the company on Thursday.įounded in 1962, Indian Point once operated with three reactors. But the company also admitted that its filters can’t eliminate a radioactive element called tritium that can increase the risk of cancer and lead to miscarriages and birth defects. Holtec guarantees the waste will be discharged in batches and undergo a filtering process first, arguing Indian Point similarly disposed of waste this way while it was active. They still plan to discharge the liquid into the river regardless, and said they could start the process as early as August. That groundswell of resistance propelled Holtec to rethink its plan to dump the water in May, announcing they would “pause” the procedure-for now. Three New York counties and more than 20 municipalities have also passed resolutions in opposition. Kathy Hochul to take action against Holtec, while U.S Senators Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand expressed concerns in a letter of their own. Over 100 environmental organizations sent a letter Monday asking Gov. Williams has joined over 440,000 people in signing a petition to stop Holtec International, the company that now owns Indian Point, from moving forward with the dumping plan, and is part of a coalition looking to finally put an end to the practice of discharging the plant’s waste into the waterway, which was quietly done for years when the facility was still open. Her mother, a registered nurse, even worked at Indian Point for a time. A cancer researcher who lives in Peekskill, New York, she spent her entire life in the Hudson Valley. And now I have to ask myself: is that really going to be safe for him?” Williams pondered. “I signed my kid up to learn how to sail with his best buddy. When Courtney Williams heard that a deactivated nuclear power plant, Indian Point, would start dumping more than 1 million gallons of radioactive water into the nearby Hudson River this summer, she immediately thought of her 10-year-old son. Adi TalwarCourtney Williams with her husband Eric and their 13-year-old daughter next to the Hudson River.
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