Entergy Agrees to Sell Indian Point Nuclear-Power Facility

By Kimberly Chin 

Entergy Corp. has reached a deal to sell a Westchester County, N.Y., nuclear power plant that will be decommissioned.

The company said Tuesday it would sell its Indian Point Energy Center, in Buchanan, N.Y., to Nuclear Asset Management Co., a subsidiary of Holtec International.

Entergy had agreed to shut down the nuclear-power facility after over a decade of environmental and safety litigation with New York state.

Comprehensive Decommissioning International LLC, a joint venture of SNC-Lavalin Group Inc. and Holtec, will dismantle all three reactor units, the companies said Tuesday.

Indian Point Energy Center has two operating nuclear plants, Unit 2 and Unit 3, which generate about 2,000 megawatts of electricity for homes, businesses and public facilities in New York City and Westchester County.

The sale includes Indian Point Units 1, 2 and 3. Indian Point Unit 1 was shut down in 1974.

The companies expect the transaction to close by the third quarter of 2021.

New Orleans-based Entergy said it would receive nominal cash consideration for the Indian Point units.

"We are not disclosing the purchase price, as it is business-sensitive at this time," the company said in a statement.

Entergy expects the sale will result in an accounting loss based on the difference between its investments in the operation and how much money it recoups.

Under a previous agreement with New York state, Entergy is scheduled to shut down Unit 2 and Unit 3 by April 30, 2020, and April 30, 2021, respectively. The company has said lower wholesale power prices were the main reason behind its decision to shut down the units.

Though a new timeline for decommissioning hasn't been set, Holtec International, a nuclear reactor equipment supplier, said it plans to initiate the decommissioning sooner than under Entergy's timetable.

The Holtec subsidiary will assume the licenses, spent fuel, decommissioning liabilities and nuclear decommissioning trusts of the units, according to details from the agreement.

With the deal, Holtec International's holdings will include six reactors at four nuclear facilities and an independent spent-fuel-storage installation.

Write to Kimberly Chin at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 16, 2019 14:59 ET (18:59 GMT)

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