Beyond Nuclear thanks New York Attorney General Letitia James, re: the federal court appeal against NRC's approval of Indian Point nuclear power plant's license transfer and expenditures from the decommissioning trust fund for unrelated purposes
Beyond Nuclear
Dear Attorney General James,
We are writing to thank you for your office's petition, announced January 22, 2021, for review in federal court of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission's (NRC) recent actions concerning the Indian Point (IP) nuclear power plant, including approval of license transfer from Entergy to Holtec, denial of New York’s petition to intervene in the license transfer, and granting Holtec exemptions from certain federal regulations on the permissible uses of the IP decommissioning trust fund.
In effect, the NRC summarily approved license transfer to Holtec while refusing to hold hearings or entertain the State’s legitimate concerns about the company, which we strongly believe is unsuitable and unqualified to be Indian Point’s licensee. The NRC also rubber-stamped Holtec’s plan to siphon off about one-third of the decommissioning trust fund ($630 million) for non-decommissioning activities (namely, highly radioactive irradiated nuclear fuel management, funding for which the licensee will recover anyway by suing the U.S. Department of Energy), which is a matter of fiscal concern to the State. As you point out, these actions by the NRC violate the Atomic Energy Act, the Administrative Procedure Act, and NRC’s own regulations and policies, and should be reversed.
Your petition was filed ten days after we wrote you (see below) about these issues, objecting to IP license transfer to Holtec and proposing among other things that the State seek adjudication of its concerns in federal court. While we don’t claim to have given you the idea, we are deeply encouraged by your timely action, which demonstrates robust commitment to protecting the state’s vital interests and its residents. Among those for whom you are standing up are many Beyond Nuclear members and supporters living in the communities around IP and across the state.
Your work on these issues has also empowered our colleagues in Michigan, where Holtec is seeking to acquire the licenses of Palisades and Big Rock Point, two nuclear power plants on the shore of Lake Michigan. Your February 2020 intervention in the NRC Atomic Safety and Licensing Board license transfer proceeding and follow-on actions, your call for public hearings, and now your federal court appeal, serve as an example Michigan and other states can follow. Michiganders are asking Attorney General Nessel to do as you have done, and urging other Michigan officials to likewise do all they can to protect the state’s interests and residents by exercising legitimate State authority over license transfer and decommissioning decisions.
Thank you, again, for your actions on the IP license transfer, and for the example you have set for other states. Best of luck with the federal court appeal. Please contact us if we can be of any assistance.
Sincerely,
Robert Alpern, Esq.
140 Eighth Avenue
Brooklyn, N.Y. 11215
Kevin Kamps
Radioactive Waste Specialist
Beyond Nuclear
7304 Carroll Avenue, #182
Takoma Park, Maryland 20912
Cell phone: (240) 462-3216
Email: kevin@beyondnuclear.org
cc:
Governor Andrew Cuomo
U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer
U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand
U.S. Representative Mondaire Jones
Lieutenant Governor Kathleen Hocul
Meghan Faux, Chief Deputy Attorney General
Jennifer Levy, First Deputy Attorney General
Joshua Tallent, Assistant Attorney General, Environmental Protection Bureau
Channing Wistar-Jones, Assistant Attorney General, Environmental Protection Bureau
Lemuel Srolovic, Environmental Protection Bureau Chief, Office of the Attorney General
Lisa Burianek, Deputy Bureau Chief, Environmental Protection Bureau, Office of the Attorney General
Jeremy Magliaro, Environmental Policy Analyst, Office of the Attorney General
Caroline Olsen, Assistant Solicitor General, Division of Appeals and Opinions
Thomas DiNapoli, New York State Comptroller
Alaina Gilligo, New York State First Deputy Comptroller
Elliot Auerbach, New York State Deputy Comptroller
John Stouffer, Office of Budget and Policy, Office of the New York State Comptroller
John Rhodes, Chair, New York State Department of Public Service
Tom Congdon, Executive Deputy and Deputy Chair, New York State Department of Public Service
James Alesi, Commissioner, New York State Department of Public Service
Diane Burman, Commissioner, New York State Department of Public Service
Tracey Edwards, Commissioner, New York State Department of Public Service
John Howard, Commissioner, New York State Department of Public Service
Michelle Phillips, Secretary to the Commission, Commissioner, New York State Department of Public Service
Carrie Gallagher, Deputy Secretary for Energy and Environment, New York State Department of Public Service
Jessica Waldorf, Assistant Secretary for Energy, New York State Department of Public Service
John Sipos, Attorney, New York State Department of Public Service
Basil Seggos, Commissioner, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation
New York State Senator Pete Harckham
New York State Assemblymember Sandra Galef
Westchester County Executive George Latimer
Linda Puglisi, Supervisor of the Town of Cortlandt, New York
Theresa Knickerbocker, Mayor, Village of Buchanan, New York
Joseph E. Hochreiter, Superintendent of Schools, Office of the Superintendent, Montrose, New York
From: Kevin Kamps <kevin@beyondnuclear.org>
Date: Tue, Jan 12, 2021 at 3:01 PM
Subject: Important information on the proposed sale of Indian Point nuclear power plant from Entergy to Holtec, and a request for dialogue
To: <Letitia.james@ag.ny.gov>
Beyond Nuclear
7304 Carroll Avenue, #182
Takoma Park, MD 20912
Tel: 301.270.2209
Email: info@beyondnuclear.org
Web: www.beyondnuclear.org
Office of the Attorney General
The Capitol
Albany, NY 12224-0341
Letitia.james@ag.ny.gov
- Working with the Congressional delegation to request a federal hearing on license transfer -- It is urgent to establish more active Congressional oversight of NRC decisions on license transfer, decommissioning, and highly radioactive waste management, in New York and other states.
- Demanding Indian Point license transfer be held in abeyance until the Biden administration appoints new NRC leadership -- NRC Chairman Kristine Svinicki announced her resignation on January 4, 2021, to take effect on January 20th, which means the Biden administration will appoint a new commissioner to replace her, as well as a new Chairman to lead the NRC. This will almost certainly shift the majority among the commissioners, and the direction of the NRC. That being the case, the new leadership should have a chance to respond to the State's call for hearings and to adjudicate its concerns before license transfer is treated as a fait accompli.
- Demanding a hearing on Indian Point license transfer to Holtec at the NRC's Atomic Safety and Licensing Board (ASLB) -- The overwhelming evidence is that NRC public comment hearings don't change prior NRC decisions; they just allow the NRC to say it has listened to stakeholders, then to go ahead and do what it intended to do in the first place. But an ASLB hearing would be important, whether or not it would change the minds of NRC commissioners or staff, because it is a necessary prerequisite for challenging Indian Point license transfer in federal court.
- Challenging Indian Point license transfer in federal court -- This is a necessary step, unless and until NRC sees fit to address substantively the concerns or contentions the State and citizens' groups have raised about Holtec taking over Indian Point.
- Asserting Public Service Commission (PSC) jurisdiction -- There is a strong legal and ethical basis for the State exercising authority over license transfer approval and consequential decommissioning decisions that are not federally preempted. The PSC, and other relevant state agencies, have both the power and the obligation to weigh in on them. Given Holtec's egregious record, it is not only possible, but necessary, for the PSC to assert its jurisdiction over license transfer approval. It should refuse to approve Holtec as the licensee.
- Leveraging public monies for its own profit without bringing any of its own to decommissioning work;
- Using a subsidiary structure which would enable it, if it chooses, to leave decommissioning work at Indian Point half done, declare bankruptcy, and walk away without liability, leaving the State and municipalities to bear the costs and risks;
- Using its own flawed and gouged casks for dry storage of highly radioactive spent fuel — casks whose design Holtec changed in safety-significant ways without even seeking the required NRC permission;
- A near-miss accident in transferring irradiated nuclear fuel to its dry casks, which could have resulted in a severe radiological release, at the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station in California;
- Indicating in an improperly filed Post Shutdown Decommissioning Activities Report (PSDAR) that it plans to do nothing to remediate known radioactive contamination of groundwater and the Hudson at Indian Point, and would remediate contaminated soil only superficially; Holtec's PSDAR also envisioned shipping highly radioactive spent fuel down the Hudson by barge, including past Manhattan;
- Cutting costs and corners, such as excluding trained union workers, and hiring unskilled workers, for such safety-critical tasks as pipe fitting, in order to save money.
Takoma Park, Maryland 20912
Email: kevin@beyondnuclear.org
LINKS TO THE THREE DOCUMENTS ATTACHED TO THE EMAIL SENT TO THE NEW YORK ATTORNEY GENERAL:
February 3, 2021