BUCHANAN – A nuclear engineer with more than four decades of experience believes reopening the Indian Point Energy Center (IPEC) is “technically credible” and “strategically attractive.”
However, Dr. Bahram Nassersharif, director of the nuclear engineering program at the University of Rhode Island, added that the prospect remains unlikely because of New York State’s “political and regulatory conditions.”
“From an engineering standpoint, Indian Point remains one of the most favorable sites in the Northeast for future nuclear redevelopment,” said Nassersharif, who has experience in reactor design, safety analysis, licensing, and regulatory compliance. “The most important advantages are already in place: major high-voltage transmission interconnections, access to an abundant cooling-water source from the Hudson River, a site with a long-established nuclear licensing and operating history, and a regional workforce familiar with nuclear plant operations and support functions.”
Dr. Bahram Nassersharif.
IPEC, located in Westchester County, was permanently shut down on April 30, 2021, after providing electricity to the region for nearly 60 years. Last week, Congressman Mike Lawler (R-NY-17) joined other Republicans and U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright at the IPEC site to call for the plant to reopen, saying it would help lower electricity costs.
However, Rockland County Democratic legislators Alden Wolfe and Beth Davidson said the plant should remain closed, citing long-standing safety, health, and environmental concerns about the facility. Wolfe pointed to the recent 2.3-magnitude earthquake centered in nearby Sleepy Hollow as one reason to keep the plant closed.
Nassersharif said the original IPEC site was developed to demanding seismic and structural standards.
“A repowered Indian Point would provide dispatchable, zero-emission baseload generation in a region where grid reliability and transmission congestion are serious concerns,” he said.
The cost of a restart could reach $10 billion and would likely require both state and federal funding. Nassersharif noted that the site is already well into decommissioning, and continued dismantlement complicates any near-term effort to restore nuclear generation. Holtec International was hired to decommission the power plant back in 2021.
So far, the state has shown no interest in reopening the plant.
“Local opposition and entrenched anti-nuclear activism also remain important realities,” Nassersharif said. “In practical terms, that means even a technically sound and economically defensible repowering strategy is unlikely to advance without a major shift in state-level political support.”