NEW CITY – Nine Rockland County Legislators have written to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission asking it to reject the pending sale of the Indian Point Power Plant, citing a lack of experience by the would-be buyer, as well as inadequate funding to insure completion of the job.
The letter is signed by Legislature Chairman Alden Wolfe, Vice Chair Aney Paul, Majority Leader Jay Hood, Deputy Majority Leader Phil Soskin, and Legislators Michael Grant, Itamar Yeger, Toney Earl, Harriet Cornell, and Aron Wieder.
It urges the NRC to reject the sale of the plant by its current owners, Entergy Nuclear Northeast, to Holtec International, the private Camden, N.J., company that says it can decommission the plant and restore the site in just 12 to 15 years.
“It has taken more than 40 years of effort by dedicated watchdogs – from public officials to everyday citizens – to get this dangerous facility shut down and we are not going to back off the final phase of the effort, which is a proper decommissioning and site restoration,” Wolfe said.
Cornell, who chaired Rockland Citizens’ Committee to Close Indian Point, said area residents and the environment, including Hudson River aquatic life, require a proper cleanup to insure the good health of future generations.
“A nuclear power plant’s by-products present very serious clean-up challenges,” she said. “We need to exercise extreme care in developing a proper decommissioning plan, as well as a rehabilitation plan for the future use of the site. We did not wage a grassroots war against this dangerous plant to skimp on the details of its proper closure.”
State Attorney General Letitia James has pointed out that Holtec estimates it will take $2.3 billion to complete the work. But the company would only have access to $2.1 billion, the amount currently in the trust fund that Entergy was required by the NRC to create and maintain for decommissioning purposes. It is partially financed by ratepayers through their electric bills.
“Indian Point is in one of the most densely populated metropolitan areas in the country and our constituents deserve full transparency and a commitment to safety first,” the legislators wrote in their letter to the NRC.
They want public hearings on any proposed sale and any cleanup plan.
