NEW YORK – State Attorney General Letitia James, Wednesday, filed a petition to intervene in the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission proceeding concerning the transfer of the Indian Point nuclear power plants to subsidiaries of the nuclear services firm Holtec International for decommissioning.
In the petition, James said the state supports “prompt, thorough, and safe decommissioning and site restoration” at Indian Point, but expresses “serious concerns that Holtec fails to possess the financial qualifications necessary to complete such a risk-intensive project.”
The attorney general argues in her motion that it would violate NRC rules for the commission to approve a license transfer when there is currently a $200 million shortfall in the trust fund and that Holtec’s cost estimates for decommissioning rely on “a series of unreasonable assumptions that appear to underestimate those costs and threaten the companies’ ability to complete the necessary work on time and within budget.”
James said the Holtec subsidiaries have no resources beyond or independent from the trust fund and have failed to establish their financial qualifications to cope with a shortfall in the fund.
