Holtec International can release around 45,000 gallons of radioactive water into the Hudson River from the shuttered Indian Point plant after a federal court shot down a New York environmental law.
In the Sept. 24 ruling, U.S. District Judge Kenneth Karas of the Southern District of New York ruled in favor of Holtec over the state of New York to reverse the 2023 state law “Save The Hudson”.
The state environmental law, signed by New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D), was created to restrict discharge of any radioactive substance into the Hudson River from the Indian Point nuclear power plant. It forbids any “radiological agents” from being discharged into the river, according to the court ruling.
Karas wrote in his opinion that the state law “categorically precludes Holtec from utilizing a federally accepted method of disposal.” Karas also sided with Holtec, stating that the state law was invalidated by federal law.
Consolidated Edison licensed three nuclear reactors at the Indian Point complex in the 1970s, according to the court document. One of the units stopped operating in 1974 and the remaining two ceased operation in 2020 and 2021. Holtec purchased the reactors and obtained decommissioning responsibility in late 2020.
Over the years, Indian Point has legally discharged millions of gallons of water containing tritium into the Hudson, and Holtec intends to discharge more tritiated water in the future, the court document said.
“Under the doctrine of federal preemption, ‘state and local laws that conflict with federal law are without effect,” Karas wrote in the court opinion.
New York state Attorney General Letitia James said that her state office will appeal the federal ruling, Hudson Valley News 12 reported early Thursday morning.
Holtec filed a lawsuit in April 2024, arguing the New York state law is unconstitutional and that only the federal government can regulate radioactive discharges.
According to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, water discharged from nuclear power plants contains mild amounts of radioactivity, particularly tritium, and poses minimal risk of contamination.
Indian Point Energy Center, located about 36 miles from Manhattan, produced 2,000 megawatts of electricity.
Holtec has floated the idea of possibly restarting Indian Point, but it is not actively pursuing it at the moment, a local Hudson news outlet reported on Sept. 30.