The Nuclear Regulatory Commission nixed a New York county executive’s request for a full-time inspector to oversee the decommissioning of a recently-shuttered nuclear power plant, according to a recent letter from the agency.
Placing a full-time resident inspector at Indian Point Energy Center “is not necessary to provide for the protection of the public health and safety,” NRC said in a letter to Westchester County, N.Y. executive George Latimer in a letter dated Sep. 15. A resident inspector also isn’t “necessarily the best method for effective regulatory oversight” at Indian Point, the agency said.
“[D]ecommissioning activities present significantly fewer radiological and nuclear safety hazards than activities at an operating power reactor site,” NRC said. Inspectors dispatched from the agency’s Region I offices in Philadelphia have the expertise necessary to perform adequate oversight of decommissioning activities at Indian Point, the letter said.
Inspection procedures at Indian Point will be best served by “visiting inspectors with different areas of specialized expertise, as appropriate, to observe various ongoing licensee decommissioning activities,” the commission said.
Latimer first requested a resident inspector for the former Buchanan, N.Y. nuclear plant in an Aug. 5 letter to NRC. The county executive expressed concern that agency inspectors were based out of Pennsylvania, over a hundred miles from Buchanan, and would be dispatched to Indian Point for “occasional” site checks.
“We feel that [a resident inspector] would best ensure the safety and efficacy of Indian Point’s decommissioning process,” Latimer said.
New Jersey-based Holtec International is currently decommissioning Indian Point after the plant’s last reactor shut down April 30. Indian Point’s Unit 2 reactor shut down late last year, and Unit 1 went offline in 1974.
