CLEARWATER CONDEMNS RUSHED PLAN TO DISCHARGE RADIOACTIVE WATER INTO HUDSON RIVER

(Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)

This week, Holtec accelerated their timeline for discharging radioactive wastewater — up to 45,000 gallons from the Unit 2 fuel pool now occurring as early as Thursday, May 4 – three months earlier than previously scheduled.

In February 2023, Holtec informed the Indian Point Decommissioning Oversight Board of plans to release up to one million gallons of treated, but still highly radioactive water into the Hudson River as soon as August of this year. Clearwater and our allies raised the alarm up and down the river, resulting in 10 municipal and county resolutions in opposition to the releases in the weeks following the initial announcement, and New York State Senator Harckham and Assemblymember Levenberg introduced legislation (S.5181/A.5338) to prohibit the discharge of any radiological agent into the waters of the state.

Clearwater is calling for urgent action to pass the Harckham-Levenberg bill and for Governor Hochul to sign it into law before May 4th to stop Holtec’s releases of radioactive wastewater into the Hudson River. Call your NYS Senator and Assemblymember and urge them to support the S.5181/A.5338.

“Holtec needs to pursue safer alternatives, including containment, and not ignore the well-being of the surrounding communities and the natural ecology of the Hudson River. They should be using the precautionary principle and not put the Hudson at risk. Only clean water should ever be released into the Hudson. As stated in Section 101 of the Clean Water Act, “(1) it is the national goal that the discharge of pollutants into the navigable waters be eliminated by 1985.” It is now 2023, 38 years past that targeted goal. New York has the opportunity to set the standard for protecting our waterways while decommissioning a nuclear plant,” said David Toman, Executive Director of Hudson River Sloop Clearwater.

The next Decommissioning Oversight Board meeting will be held on Thursday, April 27 at the Cortlandt Town Hall at 1 Heady St., Cortlandt, New York from 6:00pm to 8:30pm. The public is encouraged to offer comment or attend a rally outside the Town Hall from 4:30pm to 5:30pm to protest the proposed discharge of radioactive water into the Hudson.

Another, much larger Rally to Save the River by Opposing Holtec Discharge of Radioactive Water into the Hudson is being organized by Town of Cortland Supervisor Richard Becker for Saturday, May 6 at 2:00pm. at Cortlandt Waterfront Park, 77 Riverview Ave., Verplanck.

Learn more about the risks unsafe decommissioning practices pose to local communities and the Hudson River by watching recent educational forums convened by Clearwater and our allies. Learn more and watch the recordings.