Holtec Announces Delay In Indian Point Decommissioning

BUCHANAN, NY — The company in charge of decommissioning the Indian Point nuclear power plant said there will be an eight-year delay in finishing the job.

Holtec International Inc. announced the delay, as well as saying there would be no heavy demolition activities at the plant during 2024, at Wednesday’s meeting of the Indian Point Decommissioning Oversight Board, News 12 reported.

Patrick O’Brien, director of government affairs and communications for Holtec, told Patch that the company sent a notice of change in schedule to the Nuclear Regulatory Committee in November due to the uncertainty around water disposition due to the new state law prohibiting radioactive discharges into the Hudson River.

Layoffs of 138 workers, taking place on Dec. 29, were also discussed at the board meeting.

The reduction in the workforce was due to the completion of spent nuclear fuel being transferred to dry cask storage. O’Brien said there was an announcement of an additional 97 layoffs because of demolition work planned for 2024 being put off.

Holtec said all 3,998 spent fuel assemblies are now contained within 127 reinforced concrete and steel casks on the site’s independent spent fuel storage installations.

The state Department of Public Service and the Indian Point Closure Task Force said the moved fuel “marks important progress for the community and the state since dry cask storage is a safer, more secure storage practice.”

They also said New York was the first state to accomplish such a prompt shift and remedy.

The fuel had been kept in densely packed spent fuel cooling pools, which was a concern to the state and contributed to the state’s opposition to the relicensing of Indian Point more than 15 years ago and the successful effort to permanently close the facility in 2021.

EDITOR'S NOTE: This article was modified from its original version to include comments received from a spokesman for Holtec International Inc. after publication.