NY State Decommissioning Oversight Board presentation and nuclear autopsies

Beyond Nuclear  PowerPoint presentation on Thursday evening,  June 18, 2026 Indian Point decommissioning

“Mind the Gap: Decommissioning’s critical connection to public safety and extended reactor operations”

Beyond Nuclear is invited to make a presentation to the New York State Decommissioning Oversight Board (NYDOB) during the board’s third and final yearly meeting on Thursday, June 18. 2026 for 30 minutes between 6 pm and 9 pm EST.

Beyond Nuclear is speaking on Holtec International’s decommissioning project at its permanently closed Indian Point nuclear power station in Buchannan, NY. The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has determined that decommissioning may play a critical role in providing “reasonable assurance” to public safety, environmental protection and reliable reactor operations when coupled with safety and environmental reviews to inform the agency’s operating license renewal  program. The NRC is currently issuing a second 20 year renewal license to aging commercial reactors now out to 60 to 80 years and in discussion with industry for an 80 to 100 year extension.

Beyond Nuclear is presenting on behalf of impacted New York communities surrounding the Indian Point who are requesting the DOB open  a review for Holtec International to conduct a strategic autopsy and archive of “real world” aged materials (base metals, weld materials, concrete and electrical cable) from critical safety systems, structures and components for federal laboratory testing to determine residual safety margins in similar reactors seeking renewal periods. The NRC  has requested the domestic industry to provide aged materials for a least a decade —but largely ignored by the nuclear industry on the issue of cost while immensely benefitting from extending license renewals. The industry is attempting to open up new operating license extension venues by “recommissioning” permanently closed nuclear reactors presently certified by the NRC and States for decommissioning.

In particular, Holtec International is in the unique position, nationally, as the decommissioning operator of its own nearly 50 year old pressurized water reactors at Indian Point while attempting to “recommission” the 50 year old permanently closed pressurized water reactor at Michigan’s Palisades nuclear power station also owned by Holtec International on Lake Michigan.  If Holtec succeeds in winning  back the Palisades operating license from the NRC, the decommissioning company turned reactor operator has submitted a Letter of Intent to apply to the NRC to commercially operate the  Palisades reactor for another 20 years from 60 to 80 years.

Beyond Nuclear is citing a federal contract obtained by a Freedom of Information Act request for information exchanged between the NRC Office of Research and the US Department of Energy’s (DOE) Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) that was signed in September 2015. Specifically the NRC requests that the laboratory prepare a Technical Letter Report on the criteria and guidance of effectively performing an “autopsy” at decommissioning nuclear power stations. The strategic harvesting and testing of aged materials in closed reactors is critically needed to identify  and address numerous “technical and informational knowledge gaps” in age-related degradation mechanisms that are needed to meet a federal legal standard for “reasonable assurance” that reactor safety margins can reliably be maintained throughout requested reactor license renewals extending operations.

Material component failure due to the age-related degradation of safety margins during extended operations is the chief risk to reliable reactor operations and the increase in frequency of severe nuclear accidents during the renewal period. The PNNL Technical Letter Report was published  and made public on December 7, 2017. It remained public for roughly ten months.

Beyond Nuclear obtained a public copy of the technical report. Beyond Nuclear subsequently raised questions at a public meeting at NRC Headquarters on September 28, 2018 regarding the Subsequent License Renewal Application Process and progress on the autopsy “harvesting” and laboratory process. The attending NRC staff were shocked by the question and immediately responded that the public release was a “mistake.” The NRC/PNNL report (PNNL-27120) was removed from the worldwide web within a few days (PNNL website, Department of Energy Office of Scientific and Technical Information, the International Atomic Energy Agency International Nuclear Information Service and the US Department of Commerce. In March 2019 the NRC republished the national laboratory’s Technical Letter Report as PNNL-27120 Rev.1 “scrubbed” of some 60 references to age-related degradation “technical knowledge gaps” and recommendations by the lab that any “reasonable assurance” for NRC subsequent license renewals “will require” and “may require” the harvesting of aged material for laboratory testing and analysis ( “autopsy” ) before granting operating license extensions.

Which brings us to today’s request on the status of any autopsy at Indian Point nuclear power station.

The NYDOB meeting will be livestreamed, recorded and archived for later public viewing. The public is also being provided electronic access to watch live via https://us06web.zoom.us/j/82670464222?pwd=NbYdAgZoiMUzapYzKy4bCOGNbpieB3.1  or go to www.zoom.us/join  and enter the meeting information for Webinar ID: 826 7046 4222, Passcode: 608350 . Phone-Only Access: 1-929-436-286. This presentation will is also be available by going to the NY state website at www.dps.ny.gov/indianpoint or the page for this meeting. < https://dps.ny.gov/event/indian-  point-dob-meeting-june-2026 >

[Photo: Wikimedia Commons: no known copyright or public restriction]