There will be a public meeting held by The Indian Point Closure Task Force and Indian Point Decommissioning Oversight Board on February 2, 2023. The meeting will commence at 6pm in Cortlandt Town Hall – 1 Heady Street Cortlandt, NY 10567. The public may also join virtually via Zoom: Event Number: 862 5768 0974 Passcode: 372099 . Register to speak via https://forms.office.com/g/a9XhF97shb or by calling 1-800-342-3330 by February 1, 2023.
The Indian Point Energy Center is a nuclear power plant located in the northwest of Westchester County in Buchanan, NY. The plant opened in 1962 and supplied roughly 10% of New York state’s electricity. The plant was ultimately closed in 2021 after Governor Cuomo replaced it with three natural gas-powered electricity plants. Concerns were also raised about the proximity of the nuclear plant to high population centers in lower Westchester and obviously New York City.
A potential scandal in the making is the intent of Holtec, the current owner of Indian Point, to release a million gallons of waste water into the Hudson River. This water comes from large pools that were used to cool radioactive rods after their use during the period the plant was active. Rich Burroni, a Holtec executive, parses words by stating that they are “discharging” into the river and not “dumping.” But that seems like more of a distinction without a difference. Holtec is lobbying for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to amend numerous guidelines on how nuclear reactors are decommissioned. New York State Assembly member in the region, Sandy Galef has taken major issue with the proposed changes. She said at a recent decommissioning task force meeting, “The NRC’s plans to allow for the dumping of nuclear waste into the Hudson River, the easing of tracking requirements as nuclear waste is tracked across the country, and to reduce the oversight of decommissioning facilities all fly in the face of the NRC’s mission of maintaining public safety,”
Considering the potential affects the decommissioning of Indian Point may have in the area, the public meeting in a few weeks is critically important for the community. The millions of us who relied on this power plant’s electricity for decades may all feel the effects of its decommission for decades more to come. Again, the meeting will be held on Thursday Feb 2 at 6pm in Cortlandt Town Hall.
