Hochul bans Indian Point parent company from releasing radioactive water into Hudson

Gov. Kathy Hochul today signed into law a measure preventing the owners of the Indian Point nuclear power plant from discharging radioactive water into the Hudson River.

The first batch of an estimated million gallons of wastewater was slated to be released next month.

“The Hudson River is one of New York’s landmark natural treasures, and it’s critical we stand together to protect it for generations to come,” Hochul said. “My administration remains committed to protecting the economic vitality of the region and working closely with local communities who have advocated so passionately for this cause.”

The decision could mean Holtec International will have to store radioactive water collected during the demolition of the shuttered nuclear plant on the grounds of the 240-acre property in Buchanan.

And that doesn’t please Theresa Knickerbocker, the mayor of Buchanan, the Hudson River town that has been home to Indian Point since 1962.

She said she’d become convinced, after listening to experts testify at recent state decommissioning hearings, that the water would not be harmful to public health.

“I’m surprised after all the information that came out from experts like the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) and the NRC (Nuclear Regulatory Commission,)” Knickerbocker said. “This is a regulated facility. There were agreements that were signed…It’s going to be interesting how all this plays out because it’s not over yet.”

In a statement, Holtec said it was disappointed by the governor’s decision:

“We firmly believe that this legislation is preempted by federal law and that the discharge of monitored, processed, and treated water would not impact the environment or the health and safety of the public. In the interim, we will evaluate the impact to our decommissioning milestones and the overall project schedule.”

Hochul said the state will work with federal regulators "to identify feasible and acceptable alternatives of wastewater disposal so that decommissioning Indian Point can continue, jobs can be preserved, and the site can be cleaned up in a safe, thorough, and prompt manner."

Discharge: Indian Point shutdown was supposed to quiet anti-nuclear critics. Not a chance

Local communities opposed

A bill sponsored by lower Hudson Valley Democrats Pete Harckham in the Senate and Dana Levenberg in the Assembly set fines of $37,500 for the first violation and $75,000 for the second, with a cap of $150,000 on subsequent violations.

The bill acknowledges nuclear power’s contribution to the state energy needs but said the release would have an adverse economic impact on real estate values in communities along the Hudson.

The controversy led to spirited protests and a petition drive that attracted hundreds of thousands of signatures. Towns and municipalities along the river signed resolutions opposing the plan.

U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer joined Westchester County Executive George Latimer and others in opposition.

Bill: Indian Point owner could face fines if it dumps radioactive water into Hudson

As word of the plan spread in the spring, Holtec executives said they would be forced to lay off workers if they couldn’t dismantle a reactor that houses water used to cool spent nuclear fuel.

“Why am I going to keep people if I can’t get them work?,” Holtec vice president Richard Burroni said then.

Some 400 unionized workers are working on a decommissioning that began in 2021, including electrical workers, operating engineers and ironworkers.

Holtec said the radiological content of the water to be released would be well below acceptable levels set by the NRC, which regulates the release of radiological material at nuclear power plants.

And Holtec said it’s not alone in discharging radiation into the Hudson.

Hospitals discharge small amounts of radiation used to detect and treat cancer into wastewater treatment plants that discharge into the Hudson.

Holtec says water is safe

The plant’s previous owners had been releasing radioactive material used to cool fuel into the river during its decades of operation.

But Riverkeeper, the environmental watchdog group, rallied opposition by highlighting potential dangers to the river and public health. The group encouraged the company to store the radioactive water in tanks on the site, not far from dozens of cement-and-steel canisters loaded with spent nuclear fuel removed from plant reactors.

Riverkeeper legal director Richard Webster, said the wastewater could be harmful to public health, a point Holtec disputes.

“We’re here to protect the environment and be responsive to the citizens of the Hudson Valley who want to preserve the river,” Webster said in April. “My position is it’s unknown. If there is a way to not discharge this stuff into the river let’s do it.”

Burroni said Riverkeeper’s former president, Paul Gallay, signed off on the discharge plan during shutdown negotiations. Webster disagrees. “If the question is did Riverkeeper agree to tritium discharge in the joint proposal agreement, the answer is absolutely not,” he said in April.

Riverkeeper’s opposition followed protests in Massachusetts where activist groups rallied against Holtec’s plan to discharge radioactive water recovered during the dismantling of its Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station into Cape Cod Bay.

Those plans remain on hold after the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said Holtec’s current permits don’t allow for the discharge of radioactive wastewater.

The plant shut down in 2019, two years before Indian Point.

The shutdown meant the loss of millions of dollars in property tax revenue for Buchanan.

“I see history repeating itself,” Knickerbocker said. “The village of Buchanan will get hurt once again.”

This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: NY bans Holtec release of Indian Point radioactive water into Hudson