Nuclear powerDebate over closing NY’s Indian Point nuclear power plant intensifies
Indian Pointnuclear power plant, just thirty miles from New York City, has presented a conundrum for environmentalists who advocate clean-air initiatives, caps on carbon emissions, and increasing investment in non-polluting renewable energy sources — but at the same time argue that nuclear power poses a safety hazard to the surrounding area and demand that Indian Point cease operations. Closing the plant would require a long-term energy strategy to replace the 2,000 megawatts the plant currently produces.
Indian Point nuclear power plant, just thirty miles from New York City, has preented a conundrum for environmentalists who advocate clean-air initiatives, caps on carbon emissions, and increasing investment in non-polluting renewable energy sources — but at the same time argue that nuclear power poses a safety hazard to the surrounding area and demand that Indian Point cease operations.
New York governor Andrew Cuomo announced his intention to close Indian Point since his first campaign for governor in 2002 (see “New York governor determined to close Indian Point nuclear plant,” HSNW, 5 July 2011), but closing the plant would require a long-term energy strategy to replace the 2,000 megawatts the plant currently produces.
Capital New York reports that Jordan Stutt, an energy policy analyst at the Pace Energy and Climate Center, says that replacing Indian Point with anything other than renewable energy sources would increase air pollution. The decision to close nuclear plants is a federal one, but twenty-five years ago, former New York governor Mario Cuomo, the father of the current governor, used his influence to shut down the Shoreham nuclear plant on Long Island. “No government has a right to say ‘shut the plant,’ but if he puts his weight behind it, it has a significant impact,” said Dave Lochbaum, a nuclear engineer and the director of the Nuclear Safety Project of the Union of Concerned Scientists.
The James A. FitzPatrick nuclear power plant on the south shore of Lake Ontario may soon shut down due to rising competition from cheaper power produced by burning natural gas. The loss of FitzPatrick would eliminate roughly 840 megawatts of clean energy from the grid, something nearly impossible to replace with renewable energy sources in the short term.
James Hansen of the Columbia University Earth Institute, along with other influential climate scientists, released a statement last November noting that the environmental risks associated with expanding nuclear energy were lower than those from fossil fuels. “While there will be no single technological silver bullet, the time has come for those who take the threat of global warming seriously to embrace the development and deployment of safer nuclear power systems as one among several technologies that will be essential to any credible effort to develop an energy system that does not rely on using the atmosphere as a waste dump,” the group stated (see “Leading climate scientists urge support for nuclear power,’ HSNW, 5 November 2013; and “Climate scientists say renewables are not enough,” HSNW, 13 November 2013).
Top advisers representing Cuomo met with Indian Point officials in 2011 to tell them that Cuomo was determined to close the plant. In response, James F. Steets, a spokesman for Entergy, the plant’s owner, issued a statement defending the plant. “Indian Point provides 25 percent of N.Y.C.’s and Westchester’s power for subways, schools, police stations and firehouses, businesses and homes with virtually no emissions, at lower cost.” He added, “Entergy’s investment in recent years of more than a half-billion dollars to upgrade safety and security, and rigorous independent inspections by multiple inspectors on site full time, help ensure Indian Point is safe.”
