Indian Point returns funds and revises contract
Members of the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission were on hand at the June 13 meeting of a board overseeing the decommissioning of the Indian Point nuclear power plant south of Philipstown to explain how they monitor the funds being used by the New Jersey company doing the work.
They also delved into the reasons why the NRC recently cited Holtec International for two violations, including improper use of the decommissioning trust fund.
For decades, ratepayers who received energy from Indian Point had a fee tacked onto their bills that went into the trust fund in anticipation of the plant’s eventual shutdown. When Holtec began closing the plant in 2021, the fund contained $2.1 billion. As of March, there was $1.8 billion left, and Holtec says it is staying within budget.
However, the fund can only be used for activities related to closing the plant and reducing its radioactivity. According to the NRC, Holtec spent $63,000 on donations to a high school fashion show, a community parade, local baseball and softball teams and a charity golf event. The NRC said Holtec has repaid the money with interest.
The NRC questioned two other expenditures but determined they were legitimate: fees paid to the Department of Energy and for lobbyists in Albany to explain to legislators what was going on at the plant. The NRC did not know if Holtec was spending trust-fund money to lobby against a bill to prevent the company from discharging radioactive wastewater into the Hudson River. Holtec is suing New York State over the bill, which became law in August 2023.
Emiljana Ulaj, a Westchester County lawmaker who sits on the oversight board, said that when Holtec was asked how the company was funding the lawsuit, it wouldn’t respond. The NRC said that Holtec hasn’t yet indicated in its accounting reports that it is using the money that way, so the agency has not ruled whether the expenses would be allowed.
The NRC also cited Holtec for language in its termination agreements that the agency determined could be interpreted as preventing former employees from talking to the agency about safety violations. “Any radiological worker has to be free to come to the NRC to report a safety concern. There can be no blockage, no inhibition to that,” said Paul Krohn of the NRC.
A Holtec representative said the language was meant to protect intellectual property, not silence whistleblowers, but that the agreement has been revised.
When asked if previous agreements might have discouraged workers from reporting violations, Krohn said that, during his site visits, employees “don’t hesitate to walk up to us when they see the NRC hat and provide us information. If that were slipping, we would pick it up.”
In 2023 and the first half of 2024, Indian Point workers made 15 complaints. The NRC told The Current it could not comment on specifics but that only one allegation has been substantiated. It said that, across the country, the most common complaint is of “a work environment in which employees are fearful of raising safety concerns for fear of losing their jobs and/or disciplinary actions.”
A recent report by the NRC noted that the number of allegations nationally from nuclear workers “has been trending down for many years, but the trend slowed in 2020 and reversed in 2021. Furthermore, the numbers stayed high and increased in 2023 to levels not seen since 2018.”
