The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has approved the transfer of the Indian Point nuclear power station licence from Entergy Corporation to Holtec International, as owner, and subsidiary Holtec Decommissioning International as decommissioning operator.
There are three pressurised water reactor units at Indian Point in New York state. Indian Point-1 and -2 have been permanently shut down, while Indian Point-3 is scheduled for closure by 30 April 2021.
The NRC said in a statement that the license transfer will also include the station’s dry cask spent fuel storage installation.
According to the statement, the approval of the license transfer is effective immediately, but the transfer will not be finalised until after Unit 3’s permanent shutdown and the completion of the transaction between Entergy and Holtec.
The NRC said Holtec met the regulatory, legal, technical and financial requirements necessary to qualify as licensees, after examining technical and financial qualifications, the adequacy of the Indian Point decommissioning trust funds, and the adequacy of plans to manage the onsite storage of spent nuclear fuel.
In 2019, two other shutdown nuclear power stations, Oyster Creek from Exelon and Pilgrim from Entergy, were transferred to Holtec for decommissioning.
Holtec said in a separate statement that under the deal on Indian Point, Holtec will become solely responsible for the site’s assets and decommissioning responsibilities, including reaching an “amicable” agreement with New York state and local authorities.
According to earlier reports, the sale of Indian Point-3 will take effect after the unit has been shut down and permanently defueled. Entery and Hotlec agreed on the sale in April 2019.
