BACKGROUND SUPPLEMENT TO COMMENTS SUMITTED BY HUDSON RIVER SLOOP CLEARWATER ON INDIAN POINT LICENSE TRANSFER APPLICATION FROM ENTERGY TO HOLTEC

Hudson River Sloop Clearwater opposes the transfer of Indian Point's nuclear licenses to Holtec International, citing the company's 'rip and ship' decommissioning model as a risk to public safety and a means to maximize private profit from ratepayer funds. The document details a pattern of bribery and fraud involving Holtec and its partner SNC-Lavalin, including a World Bank ban and criminal charges in Canada and Libya. It highlights safety failures at the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station, such as damaged canisters and a near-miss accident, and criticizes Holtec's proposed Consolidated Interim Storage facility in New Mexico for being located in an active oil field. The author contends that Holtec's lack of decommissioning experience and its complex LLC structure create a significant risk that taxpayers will be left with the costs of incomplete remediation.

• Holtec employs an accelerated 'rip and ship' decommissioning approach designed to dismantle plants in five to eight years to maximize profits from ratepayer-funded decommissioning trust funds.
• Holtec and its partner SNC-Lavalin have a documented history of corruption; SNC-Lavalin was banned for ten years by the World Bank in 2013 for bribery and corruption in Bangladesh and Cambodia.
• Holtec was barred from doing business with the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) for 60 days in 2010 following a bribery scandal involving a TVA supervisor.
• At the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS), Holtec's dry-storage canisters have been scratched and gouged during loading, and a 50-ton canister nearly fell 18 feet during a loading incident that was not reported for several days.
• Holtec's proposed HI-STOR CISF facility in New Mexico is criticized for being located in the Permian Basin, an active oil and gas region where hydraulic fracturing could induce earthquakes and damage the storage site.
• The Massachusetts Attorney General sued the NRC over the Pilgrim plant transfer, arguing that Holtec's use of the decommissioning trust fund for spent fuel management risks leaving taxpayers to cover the remaining cleanup costs.
• Holtec's Post Shutdown Activities Report (PSDAR) for Indian Point suggests a plan to monitor groundwater contamination (tritium and strontium-90) through 'Monitored Natural Attenuation' rather than actively remediating it.
• Holtec has requested a safety exemption to increase allowable worker radiation exposure to 3,500 millirems per hour at Indian Point to allow the use of cranes to move spent fuel casks without a protective water jacket.
• The document warns that Holtec's use of Limited Liability Companies (LLCs) for its subsidiaries creates a risk that the company could file for bankruptcy before site decontamination is complete, leaving the parent company without a legal obligation to pay.

APA

Environmental and Energy Study Institute (n.d.). BACKGROUND SUPPLEMENT TO COMMENTS SUMITTED BY HUDSON RIVER SLOOP CLEARWATER ON INDIAN POINT LICENSE TRANSFER APPLICATION FROM ENTERGY TO HOLTEC. https://www.eesi.org/files/Hudson_River_Sloop_Clearwater_Comments_Indian_Point_Nuclear_License_Transfer.pdf

Chicago

Environmental and Energy Study Institute. BACKGROUND SUPPLEMENT TO COMMENTS SUMITTED BY HUDSON RIVER SLOOP CLEARWATER ON INDIAN POINT LICENSE TRANSFER APPLICATION FROM ENTERGY TO HOLTEC. n.d. https://www.eesi.org/files/Hudson_River_Sloop_Clearwater_Comments_Indian_Point_Nuclear_License_Transfer.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |author=Environmental and Energy Study Institute |title=BACKGROUND SUPPLEMENT TO COMMENTS SUMITTED BY HUDSON RIVER SLOOP CLEARWATER ON INDIAN POINT LICENSE TRANSFER APPLICATION FROM ENTERGY TO HOLTEC |url=https://www.eesi.org/files/Hudson_River_Sloop_Clearwater_Comments_Indian_Point_Nuclear_License_Transfer.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{environmentalandenergystudyinstitutendbackground, author = {{Environmental and Energy Study Institute}}, title = {{BACKGROUND SUPPLEMENT TO COMMENTS SUMITTED BY HUDSON RIVER SLOOP CLEARWATER ON INDIAN POINT LICENSE TRANSFER APPLICATION FROM ENTERGY TO HOLTEC}}, publisher = {Environmental and Energy Study Institute}, url = {https://www.eesi.org/files/Hudson_River_Sloop_Clearwater_Comments_Indian_Point_Nuclear_License_Transfer.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }