State wants Indian Point reviewed as if it were new

By GREG CLARY
THE JOURNAL NEWS
(Original publication: November 2, 2007)

Before Indian Point can extend its license to operate through 2035, federal regulators must evaluate the Buchanan nuclear plant as if it were applying for the first time, state environmental officials said yesterday.

Lawyers for the state Department of Environmental Conservation demanded that the current review be rejected as too generic and that factors such as emergency planning, the potential for terrorism attacks and earthquakes be looked at in depth.

"The environmental review requirements of federal law did not fully analyze or review the adverse environmental impacts of operation of these nuclear generating facilities when they were issued the original licenses," the DEC wrote in 19 pages of comments filed with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

"The State of New York requests that the NRC conduct a full and thorough environmental review and will participate in every facet of that process," the DEC said.

Indian Point 2 was approved for its license in 1973 and Indian Point 3 in 1975; those run out in 2013 and 2015, respectively. Under current law, the NRC considers two major factors when evaluating whether a reactor that has reached the end of its 40-year operating license should be granted a 20-year extension:

- The environmental impacts of keeping the plant open.
- The operator's plans for managing aging infrastructure at the site.

The Environmental Protection Agency made similar demands this week when it weighed in on Indian Point's license renewal, but didn't ask for an evaluation that started from scratch.

NRC officials have basically said thanks, but no thanks, on the requests for tighter restrictions, noting that many of the issues raised are either reviewed continually or were evaluated before the plants opened.

"We've received the comments from New York state," said agency spokesman Neil Sheehan. "The NRC will respond to the comments as part of the scoping process."

Sheehan said the agency has already approved 48 of the country's 104 reactors using the relicensing guidelines.

Setting the bar higher for Indian Point to continue generating about 2,000 megawatts of electricity has been discussed since before Entergy Nuclear announced plans to seek 20-year extensions for Indian Point 2 and 3, nearly a year ago.

In February, Westchester County Executive Andrew Spano went to federal court after the NRC denied his request for tougher criteria, including population growth in the region.

Others joined the call for tighter restrictions, including Rockland County and the state.

The case is pending, though Westchester County lawmakers are balking at the cost of pursing the legal challenge and want to leave it to the state's bigger posse of lawyers and deeper pockets.
Indian Point officials said they're willing to go into detail on any of the environmental issues facing the plant, to make the case to residents of the Hudson Valley for turning nuclear fuel into the region's electricity.

"If we didn't address the environmental concerns to the satisfaction of the regulators on an ongoing basis, we wouldn't be allowed to operate now, let alone for another 20 years," Entergy spokesman Jim Steets said.

Riverkeeper officials say, however, that the state is on the right road with its detailed concerns.

"Riverkeeper shares New York's serious concerns regarding terrorism, emergency evacuation failures, nuclear waste and the damage to Hudson River fish populations caused by Indian Point's outdated cooling system," said Phillip Musegaas, a policy analyst with the environmental group. "The NRC can no longer rely in good faith on an outdated, generic environmental study that ignores these critical issues in order to streamline the relicensing process for Entergy's benefit. The citizens of New York deserve better."

Reach Greg Clary at gclary@lohud.com or 914-696-8566.

Counties Will Not Get Entergy Fines-Maybe Congressman Hall Should Introduce A Bill So They Do?

In their usual fashion, the NRC has issued a letter denying a request by the four counties, that have to absorb the costs of having Entergy forced upon us, which would have funneled the most recent $130,000 fine for non-working alarm systems down to the local level. They claim they have no authorization for such a move, that they are required to place the money in their own United States Treasury account. Seems to me, that Congressman John Hall needs to introduce a bill that would funnel all money collected in fines back into the local communities. The other option, the NRC should have their yearly federal tax payers budget reduced by the amount of fines collected from these violations.

NRC: Indian Point fines won't go to county coffers

By GREG CLARY
THE JOURNAL NEWS (Original Publication: June 12, 2007)

WHITE PLAINS - The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has rejected Westchester County's request that Indian Point's $130,000 fine for failing to install emergency sirens on time be spread among the four counties within 10 miles of the nuclear reactors to defray emergency preparation costs.

"It's government 1, the people 0," said Susan Tolchin, chief adviser to Westchester County Executive Andrew Spano. The NRC was "right to give Entergy a penalty on this, but the bottom line is, funnel that money to the counties whose taxpayers are paying for emergency services."

The federal nuclear regulators fined Entergy Nuclear Northeast, the owner of Indian Point, for missing its April 15 deadline to install a new emergency alert system.The company has since vowed to have the sirens operating by August. In the mean time, residents of Westchester, Rockland, Putnam and Orange counties must rely on a decades-old set of 156 sirens with a spotty performance record in the past two years.

Indian Point's siren system is used to alert residents of an emergency atthe plant and to signal them to check their televisions or radios for further instructions.The 150 new sirens, which will have backup battery power and can be sounded through cell antennas or radio systems, eventually will replace the existing system.

In a letter dated Friday, Cynthia Carpenter, director of the NRC's Office of Enforcement, said the agency was required to deposit the fine money into the U.S. Treasury rather than send it to local governments." The NRC does not have the authority to redirect such funds for non appropriated programs," Carpenter wrote to Anthony Sutton, Westchester County's commissioner of emergency services. "As such, the NRC is unable to honor your request.

"NRC spokesman Neil Sheehan said the agency has no latitude on the issue because of the federal Miscellaneous Receipts Act, which controls how money paid to the U.S. government must be handled." The Miscellaneous Receipts Act is designed to guarantee that Congress retains control of the public purse," Sheehan said. "It would take legislation to allow us to do this, and there isn't anything pending."

Tolchin said that the county would talk to its congressional representatives, who had already voiced their support of local municipalities receiving the fine money. Entergy officials reiterated yesterday that the discussion of who ultimately gets the fine money doesn't involve them. Sutton pressed the NRC in his May 15 letter to follow precedent that has allowed the Environmental Protection Agency to direct money elsewhere, but Sheehan said his agency's research showed that those transactions have not involved third parties.

John Wheeler, Shill For Nuclear Industry At It Again

Chernobyl was SAFE, SECURE and VITAL.

John Wheeler, the Nuclear Industry's self appointed shill is at it again over on his "This Week in Nuclear Blog...no link included. Seems he's jumped into the fray with other nuclear industry hacks bent on blowing me and my blog OUT OF THE WATER, using fear and hidden threats to silence the voice of reason where the failing Indian Point Nuclear plant is concerned. Funny how no one in the world cared what I wrote about until I started writing about Indian Point, NuStart, Entergy and the DOE Nuclear 2010 plan created by the same man who brought us the Iraq War, George W. Bush. Now I have invisible people putting up attack pages here on blogspot, and instead of attacking what I have to say, the NUCLEAR INDUSTRY and those who support it have stooped to outing my wife, outing not only her real name, but where she works...my wife has NOTHING TO DO WITH MY OPINIONS, but that does not matter...using her is a convenient threat...a quiet way of saying, we can HURT YOU, and WE WILL. What's next, bricks through my front window?

Now Wheeler attacked me on his weekly podcast several weeks ago...episode #38 if my memory serves me correctly. Sure he would swear he is not tracking/stalking me, yet he suddenly is blogging about what is going on, adding fuel to an ever growing fire. Problem is, he speaks half truths, speaks with a forked tongue, and uses subterfuge to SCARE PEOPLE into believing Nuclear Energy, Indian Point are safe, secure, vital, and the only REAL CHOICE as we move forward. Plain and simple, in my opinion, WHEELER IS WRONG, fooled, coerced, perhaps bought off by the industry that has supported his comfortable way of life for decades now, clothed his children, paid for their education, probably purchased his house.

He claims that Nuclear Energy is CO2 free...the gaseous diffusion plant in Portsmouth Ohio where much of the enriched uranium created in the past 50 years came from, required NINE utility companies (who burned coal) to supply and meet their electrical needs...the Portsmouth plant at full operational speed required daily enough electricity to power Los Angeles County for one year. Suppose that Mr. Wheeler does not want to count that in Nuclear Industry Waste streams? Curious...Indian Point pumps 2.5 BILLION gallons of water out of the Hudson River daily, returns it to said river WARMER than when it went in. Has Mr. Wheeler done any statistical investigations on the CULMALATIVE EFFECTS on global warming from over 400 reactors world wide dumping that much HEATED WATER back into our rivers, that in turn carry their now warmed waters to the oceans?

OK...how about the BILLIONS of pounds of depleted uranium? I've driven around the Gaseous Diffusion plant in Ohio. What about all the contaminated plant parts sent to Barnwell? You know John, like the one that Entergy sent off that was improperly WRAPPED...want to talk about the worker exposed to the dangerous exposures from that incident? How about the problem with the part they sent to another facility...want to discuss that? Or, how about the near accident in Texas where DOD workers tired and overworked almost detonated a nuclear bomb 100 times more powerful than the one dropped on Hiroshima.

He puts forward RED HERRING arguments to support his cause, his pay DADDIES cause, such as when he talks about an oil pipeline explosion/fire that killed hundreds of people...we all remember that news story. What Mr. Wheeler fails to tell us, is that explosion occurred because people were trying to TAP INTO THE SYSTEM TO STEAL FUEL. Try some truthiness there Mr. Wheeler. By the way, how much waste does a single reactor create on a yearly basis Mr. Wheeler? Think I recall it averages about 4 metric tons. So, 104 reactors here in America, that's 416 Metric tons of WASTE (that the DOE cannot for the life of itself figure out what to do with...Yucca is not going to happen, you and I both know that) times say only 50 years. That starts adding up. Of course, that does not include ANY DECOMMISSIONING WASTE, does not include any of the parts that have to be sent to Barnwell, which has some serious SPACE PROBLEMS Mr. Wheeler. Curious....how much waste from the Nuclear Industry is already stored at Envirocare, or at nuclear sites all around the country?

By the way...speculation on the limited world wide supply of Uranium has pushed the price up to over $100 a pound...has any one done any charts and analysis to figure out how long our world supply would last at current usage rates, let alone PROJECTED USAGE RATES? Sure, lets make the same mistake we made with fossil fuels of putting ALL OUR EGGS in a FINITE BASKET...makes perfect sense....NOT. Renewable energy...that leaves NUCLEAR OUT. Let me guess, you are going to tell us scientists are working on some "Lost in Space" plan to mine additional product from some asteroid yet to be found? Maybe start mining the moon once George Bush gets his permanent base built up there? OH! maybe when he gets that base up there, the Nuclear Industry has plans to SHIP OUR WASTE THERE, since no one would be there to object?

By the way...affordable...care to share with our readers how much of the cost of subsidizing the planned Nuclear Rebirth is being paid for with our taxes compliments of DOE matching funds? Care to share with our readers how we are screwed if a major incident does happen, since the Price Waterhouse Act protects the nuclear industry from the costs incurred in the aftermath of said MAJOR INCIDENT...that coupled with that nice little exclusion on our insurance policies for nuclear attacks and or accidents pretty well screws EVERY PROPERTY OWNER in a host area if they live through said incident. Sure, you and other shills like you just keep beating those drums and telling people Indian Point and the nuclear industry is safe, secure and vital. Meanwhile, as I know those attacking me are reading my blog, show some class....you don't like my views, I can live with that...leave my wife out of the fight. Attack my version of events, prove me wrong...prove to me that Indian Point is safe, secure and vital, prove to me you can figure out what to do with the waste streams they create. Prove to me that the Nuclear Industry, the NRC and our government would MAKE US WHOLE after a major incident...they sure have failed that task in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina! I am not interested in being another New Orleans, where we are told like sheep we are safe, that Indian Point is safe until the worst case scenario DOES HAPPEN....we already lived through 9/11, that was enough for me...especially considering the NRC's dismal record of protecting Human Health and the Environment. Some of you want to complain that your comments don't get posted...then start IDENTIFYING YOURSELVES, instead of hiding like stinking fetid rats on a sinking ship. You know who I am, I want the world to know who you are...if you love NUCLEAR SO MUCH, then identify yourselves.

By the way Riverkeeper, IPSEC, Green Peace and the grassroots movement...Entergy sponsors almost every MAJOR EVENT at the Paramount Center in the City of Peekskill...why not start holding mini protests at those events to bring attention to this issue? There's one coming up at the end of January...be a good place to start the process of SHUTTING DOWN INDIAN POINT.

HERE'S SOME TRUTH FOR YOU WHEELER:

PORTSMOUTH GASEOUS DIFFUSION PLANT
Nuke-rod recycling proposed
Idea scares some, who were surprised by site’s nomination
Wednesday, October 18, 2006
Randy Ludlow
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

For nearly 50 years, southern Ohioans labored at a government uranium-enrichment plant, churning out the stuff of nuclear warheads and powerplant fuel rods.

The Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant left a Cold War legacy of nearly 3,000 workers sick or dead from radiationrelated cancers and other illnesses.