nuclear-news

$700 million of public money goes to New York’s FitzPatrick nuclear deal. WHY?

Watchdogs: Why transfer $700 million of public money in FitzPatrick nuclear deal? Syracuse.com, 9 Aug 16  SYRACUSE, N.Y. – Watchdog groups warned Tuesday that New York may be giving up too much by transferring $700 million from a public fund to Exelon Corp. as part of the deal to keep open the James A. FitzPatrick nuclear plant in Oswego County.

Under terms of the deal announced Tuesday, the state will transfer the cash from a New York Power Authority trust fund — set aside to pay for the eventual decommissioning of the FitzPatrick plant — to Exelon Corp.

Two watchdog groups who track the nuclear power industry say they are concerned about the transfer from public to private hands.

Jessica Azulay, program director for the Syracuse-based Alliance for a Green Economy, said the unprecedented deal announced Tuesday gave too much control to Exelon.

“Governor Cuomo has truly given away the store,” Azulay said in a statement. “As if the billions of dollars of consumer money gifted in subsidies to the nuclear industry weren’t enough, now we find out that another $700 million in public assets will be handed to Exelon in order to sweeten the deal for their purchase of FitzPatrick.”

Money in the state’s decommissioning fund is set aside to make sure that FitzPatrick and its nuclear waste will be safely handled and cleaned up when the plant reaches the end of its useful life and is taken off line.

Tim Judson, executive director of the Nuclear Information and Resource Service in Takoma Park, Md., said now the public will lose control over that process.

“Public ownership over FitzPatrick’s decommissioning fund provides a safeguard to prevent Exelon from misusing money New Yorkers paid to ensure a responsible cleanup, and for the state to have some control over when and how that cleanup will happen after it retires,” Judson said.

“Most states are not so lucky to have a way of reigning in nuclear owners who plan to mothball nuclear sites for decades, leaving the contamination and the waste to fester,” Judson said. “It is folly for New York to give up this fund over to Exelon.”…….. Contact Mark Weiner anytime: Email | Twitter | Facebook | 571-970-3751   http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2016/08/watchdogs_why_transfer_700_million_of_public_money_in_fitzpatrick_nuclear_deal.html

August 12, 2016 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | politics, USA