Nuclear powerDebate heats up over N.Y.’s Indian Point nuke license renewal

Entergy Corporation (ETR),  operator of the Indian Point nuclear power plant, located twenty-four miles north of New York City, is facing opposition from local officials and residents who want the plant shut down..

Bloomberg reports that at a panel discussion moderated by the president of Riverkeeper Inc., a group which opposes the continuing operation of Indian Point, Greg Jaczko the former chairman of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission(NRC), agreed, saying that “the best solution is to sit down with all the interested stakeholders and think about a way to shut down the plant on a reasonable time frame. When you have this much local opposition and opposition from state government, what I’ve seen over time is that it’s very difficult to operate plants.”

Other members on the panel, former Japanese prime minister Naoto Kan and political activist Ralph Nader, discussed the lessons of Japan’s Fukushima meltdown.  Kan stated that all nuclear power reactors should be closed and the world should shift to renewable sources to meet its energy needs.

Entergy is seeking a 20-year license renewal from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which would allow it to operate Indian Point a two-unit nuclear plant that generates 25 percent of the power used in New York City and Westchester County, for twenty more years. State officials, environmental groups, and New York Governor Andrew Cuomo oppose the license renewal.  Cuomo once called Indian Point “a catastrophe waiting to happen,” and in his campaign literature in 2010 said that he would push for its closure. “I’ve had concerns about Indian Point for a long time … This plant in this proximity to New York City was never a good risk.”

The plant’s aging reactors are a concern for opponents, who question its safety. Indian Point’s two functioning reactors were built during the administrations of Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford, respectively. The recent discovery that Indian Point is located near two active seismic fault lines —  the Ramapo Fault Plainand the Peekskill-Stamford line – has added to these safety worries.

Entergy released a statement on 8 October 2013 defending Indian Point’s safety record. “Indian Point is a safe plant that gets excellent safety ratings from the NRC, including while under the former chairman. The plant is regularly examined to identify enhancements to make it even safer, including using lessons learned from Fukushima, and many have either been completed or are under way,” the company said.

“Nearly $1 billion has been invested in Indian Point over the past decade, making it a world-class facility,” Jerry Kremer, chairman of the pro-nuclear power New York Affordable Reliable Electricity Alliance, said in a statement released on 8 October 2013. “Indian Point makes the region a cleaner, safer place to live.” The Alliance includes an Entergy executive, union representatives, and members of local business councils.

Jaczko, in a December 2011 interview with Bloomberg News, agreed that a Fukushima-like disaster at Indian Point would unfold slowly, allowing for the safe evacuation of would-be affected areas (Governor Cuomo strongly disagrees, sayingit is not feasible to evacuate about twenty million residents of the metropolitan area in the event of an accident). Jaczko, however, still maintains his position on the need to shut down Indian Point, evident in another interview with Bloomberg News after his speech at the panel. “The best option is to work out and negotiate a settlement and come to some sort of agreement to shut it down rather than this very expensive and very contentious and acrimonious process,” Jaczko said. “That is never a good way to resolve these issues.”