Entergy to Sell Indian Point Energy Center Post Closure to New Jersey Firm

BUCHANAN, NY—Entergy Corp. has reached an agreement to sell its Indian Point 1, 2 and 3 nuclear power plants here after the power plants are shut down in late 2021.

The New Orleans-based Energy company reports that it will sell Indian Point 1, 2 and 3 nuclear units to decommissioning firm Holtec International of Camden, NJ, which will decommission units. Indian Point 2 and 3 that are scheduled for closure in 2020 and 2021. Indian Point Unit 1 was shut down in 1974. The sale transaction of the complex on the shores of the Hudson River in Westchester County is expected to close in the third quarter of 2021.

The sale includes the transfer of the licenses, spent fuel, decommissioning liabilities, and Nuclear Decommissioning Trusts for the three units. The sale price of the complex was not disclosed. With the deal, Entergy has announced agreements to sell all of its nuclear power plant holdings.

“The sale of Indian Point to Holtec is expected to result in the completion of decommissioning decades sooner than if the site were to remain under Entergy’s ownership,” said Entergy chairman and CEO Leo Denault. “With its deep experience and technological innovations, Holtec’s ability to decommission Indian Point will benefit stakeholders in the surrounding community.”

Following regulatory approvals and the close of the transaction, Holtec plans to initiate decommissioning at Indian Point. A more defined timetable will be developed in connection with Holtec’s preparation of its Post-Shutdown Decommissioning Activities Report and Site-Specific Decommissioning Cost Estimate. Holtec will submit those reports to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission likely in the fourth quarter of 2019.

Unit 2 and Unit 3 currently generate approximately 2,000 megawatts of electricity for homes, business and public facilities in New York City and Westchester County. Indian Point Unit 2 and Unit 3 are scheduled to shut down by April 30, 2020 and April 30, 2021 respectively, as part of an agreement reached with New York State in January 2017.

“Holtec will execute the decommissioning of Indian Point with the same focus on operational excellence that has undergirded our company’s ascent to a first-tier global nuclear technology firm,” said Dr. Kris Singh, president and CEO of Holtec International. “Our industry-leading expertise and deep experience permit us to complete decommissioning at Indian Point decades sooner than if Entergy remained the owner and performed decommissioning itself. The potential for the site to be released decades sooner for redevelopment could deliver significant benefits to local community stakeholders and the regional economy.”

He added that Holtec with work with Entergy to hire existing employees at Indian Point “who can be productively deployed in the forthcoming decommissioning activities.”

Holtec’s fleet is expected to grow to six reactors at four nuclear facilities and an independent spent fuel storage installation, located in Michigan, New York, New Jersey and Massachusetts. Oyster Creek (N.J.) and Pilgrim (Mass.) License Transfer Application requests are pending at the NRC, with anticipated closings in 2019, subject to NRC approval.

Holtec states that it will transfer all of the used nuclear fuel to its dry fuel storage cask systems to be stored at the on-site reinforced concrete pads, which will remain under guard, monitored during shutdown and decommissioning, and subject to the NRC’s oversight, until the U.S. Department of Energy removes it in accordance with its legal obligations, or until Holtec’s proposed Consolidated Interim Storage facility in New Mexico, named HI-STORE CIS, is ready to begin accepting used fuel from across the country.

Holtec and Comprehensive Decommissioning International, a U.S.-based joint venture company formed in 2018 between Holtec and SNC-Lavalin, have agreed to enter into a Decommissioning General Contractor Agreement for CDI to perform the decommissioning of the Indian Point site.