All Spent Nuclear Fuel Now Moved to Safer, More Secure Dry Cask Storage

ALBANY — The New York State Department of Public Service and the Indian Point Closure Task Force today announced that the owner and operator of the decommissioning Indian Point nuclear power plant in the Village of Buchanan, Westchester County, has transferred all spent nuclear fuel to dry cask storage. Today’s announcement marks important progress for the community and the State since dry cask storage is a safer, more secure storage practice, making New York the first state to accomplish such a prompt shift and remedy.

“The successful transfer of spent fuel to dry cask storage is a tremendous accomplishment by the skilled men and women working to decommission Indian Point,” Tom Congdon, Chair of the Indian Point Closure Task Force, said. “Meanwhile, New York’s oversight over the decommissioning of Indian Point continues unabated. New York’s regulatory agencies, and the Indian Point Decommissioning Oversight Board, remain laser-focused on the safe, prompt, and thorough decommissioning of Indian Point.”

The heightened risks posed by Indian Point’s long-standing practice of storing spent nuclear fuel in densely packed spent fuel cooling pools have been of concern to New York State, contributing to the State’s opposition to the relicensing of Indian Point more than 15 years ago, the State’s successful effort to permanently close the facility in 2021, and the State’s insistence that the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) oppose Holtec’s waivers for its Post-Defueled Emergency Plan (PDEP) until all spent nuclear fuel was out of densely packed spent fuel pools.

To mitigate the risks of fires in the spent fuel pools and release of radiation during a severe accident, and to avoid a decades-long process afforded by the federal government’s decommissioning regulations, New York State required all spent nuclear fuel at Indian Point to be safely transferred out of the spent fuel pools and into dry cask storage on an accelerated timeline. Less than 30 months since those requirements were imposed, with all 3,998 spent fuel assemblies now contained within 127 reinforced concrete and steel casks on the site’s independent spent fuel storage installations, the significantly reduced risk profile at Indian Point is a win for all New Yorkers.