Six state lawmakers propose study
Six Republican state senators introduced a bill on Aug. 30 that, if passed, would establish a commission to examine reopening Indian Point. The nuclear power plant south of Philipstown closed in 2021 and is being decommissioned.
The bill also would reclassify nuclear energy and natural gas derived from trash and manure as “renewable energy” and authorize a feasibility study of small modular nuclear reactors. None of the lawmakers are from the Hudson Valley.
Any effort to reopen Indian Point would face significant hurdles. For starters, the reactors have been dismantled, and Holtec, the firm hired to decommission the plant, has sent the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission a “certificate of permanent cessation of operations” that states that it would be impossible to restart.
Holtec is attempting to reopen a nuclear plant in western Michigan that closed in 2022, but its reactors are intact. The company must first get authorities to reinstate the operating license and prove to federal inspectors that the plant remains viable.
The firm also plans to build small modular nuclear reactors (SMRs) in Michigan and at the closed Oyster Creek plant in eastern New Jersey.
SMRs are a class of nuclear fission reactors that proponents say are cheaper and safer than current reactors. The federal Department of Energy had hoped to bring the first SMR online by 2030 in Idaho, but the plant was canceled last year when utilities balked at the cost, which had doubled to more than $9 billion.
Building SMRs at Indian Point would prove difficult because, as part of the shutdown agreement, any plans to again create nuclear energy at the site must be approved by the Village of Buchanan, the Town of Cortlandt, Westchester County, New York State and the Hendrick Hudson School District.
“There is no such consensus,” said state Sen. Peter Harckham, a Democrat whose district includes Indian Point and who sits on the Indian Point Decommissioning Oversight Board. “This bill will never make it to the floor. Indian Point will be re-nuclearized when Elvis Presley makes his comeback tour. Discussions of bringing back nuclear energy to Indian Point are a pointless election-year stunt by Republican politicians.
“If my colleagues across the aisle are that interested in nuclear power, they are welcome to invite atomic energy into their communities,” Harckham said.
Of the bill’s sponsors, two are from Long Island, three from western New York and one from north of Saratoga Springs.
The primary sponsor, Sen. Tom O’Mara, did not respond to a request for comment. But in a statement on Monday (Sept. 2), O’Mara criticized the state’s green initiative as “an approach that has been built on rapidly imposing radical and sweeping clean energy mandates” that lacks a comprehensive cost-benefit analysis. O’Mara and other Republicans have called for the state’s 2030 deadline to derive 70 percent of its electricity from renewables to be delayed by 10 years.
O’Mara and other critics of the Indian Point shutdown have noted it immediately led to increased use of fossil-fuel-powered “peaker plants” designed to operate only during high demand.
Victoria Leung, a staff attorney for Riverkeeper, said the environmental group isn’t against examining the feasibility of nuclear technologies but that reopening Indian Point is out of the question.
“It was an antiquated facility and responsible for killing billions of fish and fish larvae every year,” she said. “This isn’t a serious proposal.”
The bill also proposes that nuclear energy and natural gas derived from methane emissions from decomposing trash and manure — which the fossil-fuel industry and the prospective bill refer to as “renewable natural gas” — be reclassified as renewables. That would allow both sources to contribute to New York’s 2030 goal.
In current law, renewable energy is defined as “being continuously restored by natural or other means or are so large as to be usable for centuries without significant depletion.”
Nuclear energy is generally not considered renewable because it requires enriched uranium as a fuel source. And while New York has plenty of trash, it wouldn’t last forever.
I decided to just peruse the article. So basically you were telling me that Elvis will be making a comeback.
Proposing to reopen Indian Point may be a political stunt by Republicans, but it’s also one of the rare actionable proposals toward a meaningful impact on greenhouse gas emissions.
The big story is all the attention on solar and other “renewables” that still require unprecedented quantities of mineral resources and huge amounts of energy to manufacture, maintain and replace, indefinitely. It is reminiscent of plastic recycling 30 years ago, or LED lights: drops in the bucket, distractions. Carbon dioxide concentration has shown no change in its upward trajectory over dec-ades.
To avoid catastrophic climate change requires — with present technology — a massive scale-up in nuclear energy, or a long list of radical, unprecedented societal and lifestyle changes that industry doesn’t want to happen (e.g., degrowth, grounding airlines, wide-spread anti-consumerism, vegetable gardens everywhere, short workweeks, etc.). Actually, it probably requires both.
Kidder is an associate professor of earth and atmospheric science at The City University of New York.
Climate change demands action now, not 10 years from now. There is no small mythical reactor in operation in the U.S.; spending money to get one sited and built is a distraction from what we know works now: wind and solar. Never mind the unsolvable issue of high-level radioactive waste. The reactor at Indian Point has been dismantled. There’s no way to bring it back into operation.
LED lights? Drop in the bucket! Crunch your numbers: See how much LEDs have in fact succeeded in reducing electrical consumption.
Thank you for this comment. It was a breath of fresh air from most of the information that we are given that is scientifically incorrect.
The average temperatures go up, oceans absorb the heat, leading to warmer water and warmer air and an unstable climate. Insurance for nuclear reactors? Only taxpayers pick up the bill. The wind blows, the sun shines. Solar has gotten cleaner every year and it’s become far easier to recycle.
Let’s work on big benign batteries and we’re home free with a well-balanced load. Insulate your home. Raise the bar for educating students, who will continue to produce energy that is cleaner and economical. Free fuel beats all. Depleted fuel may not be affordable or safe.
Fishman is the founder and president of the New York Solar Energy Society.
What a coincidence that six state senators have put this bill up during election season to restart Indian Point. I’m sure it has nothing to do with getting nuclear industry donors to fork up money to their political action committees. It’s also probably just a fluke that Holtec is seeking massive taxpayer subsidies. I’m sure everyone just cares about the climate.
Let’s build new nuclear plants. Refurbishing a 70-year-old facility would make no sense. [via Instagram]
Our desire for an unlimited energy source to feed our electrical needs blinds us to the invisible dangers of ionizing radiation. The non-green nuclear cycle of mining, refining and using uranium is the cause of countless deaths and worldwide suffering.
The relationship between nuclear power and nuclear weapons is an unholy marriage propelling us into deeper environmental chaos. Thinking about reopening Indian Point is hardly sane and undermines the health of human beings.