Roughly 45,000 gallons of radioactive wastewater from the shuttered Indian Point nuclear facility, located north of New York City, will be discharged into the Hudson River following a federal court decision overturning New York’s attempt to block the release.
U.S. District Judge Kenneth Karas ruled in favor of Holtec International, the company responsible for decommissioning Indian Point, striking down the 2023 “Save the Hudson” law. That law, signed by Gov. Kathy Hochul, was intended to prohibit radioactive discharges into the river. Judge Karas sided with Holtec’s argument that federal law preempts state restrictions, noting that the New York measure “categorically precludes Holtec from utilizing a federally accepted method of disposal.”
Holtec, which filed suit against the state last year, argued that Indian Point had legally discharged similar water for more than five decades while the plant was operational. The company praised the ruling and stressed that the release will follow strict federal safety regulations.
“We will continue to decommission the Indian Point site in an environmentally responsible manner, working with local, state and federal stakeholders,” Holtec said in a statement.
Indian Point, located about 35 miles north of Manhattan, was permanently closed in 2021 after years of local opposition over environmental concerns. But the shutdown created new challenges for New York’s power grid. Governor Hochul herself has acknowledged that the loss of Indian Point has forced the state to burn more fossil fuels, increasing greenhouse gas emissions in the New York City region.
“Let’s be honest. In doing that, we turned off one quarter of New York City’s power and it was almost all clean energy,” Hochul said in June. “Overnight, without an alternative, we’ve had to burn more fuel.”
Meanwhile, Holtec officials have suggested the possibility of reopening Indian Point to meet growing energy demand. “Most of the interest has come at the federal level,” said Patrick O’Brien, the company’s director of government affairs. “It will just take time and money and political will.”
Governor Hochul’s office, however, has dismissed reopening plans, reaffirming that the state intends to see the site fully decommissioned.
According to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, wastewater from nuclear plants can contain low levels of tritium, a radioactive substance that poses only a minimal risk of contamination when released within regulated limits.