Plant's sirens startle residents

Plant's sirens startle residents
var isoPubDate = 'July 06, 2007'
July 06, 2007
Buchanan — A planned silent test of the Indian Point nuclear plants' emergency system gave residents a fright yesterday when an employee pushed the wrong button and set the sirens wailing.
"There was no emergency, but the sirens sounded for a couple of minutes," said Jim Steets, a spokesman for plant owner Entergy Nuclear.
"We didn't get any calls from residents, but Putnam County did and at least they were able to say it was an error," Steets said.
County officials received dozens of calls from scared residents when the 14 sirens in Putnam went off at about 10:45 a.m., said Adam Stiebeling, county deputy commissioner of emergency services.
The plants periodically test sirens spread through Westchester, Rockland, Putnam and Orange counties.
While some sirens have failed in the past, Stiebeling said the good news in Thursday's incident was that, once activated, all 14 sirens did indeed work.

Indian Point's alarms go off in not-so-silent test

Indian Point's alarms go off in not-so-silent test
BUCHANAN - A planned silent test of the Indian Point nuclear plants' emergency system gave residents a fright Thursday when an employee pushed the wrong button and set the sirens wailing.
"There was no emergency, but the sirens sounded for a couple of minutes," Jim Steets, a spokesman for plant owner Entergy Nuclear, said. "We didn't get any calls from residents, but Putnam County did and at least they were able to say it was an error."
County officials received dozens of calls from scared residents when the 14 sirens in Putnam went off about 10:45 a.m., said Adam Stiebeling, county deputy commissioner of emergency services.
While some sirens have failed in the past, Stiebeling said the good news in Thursday's incident was that, once activated, all 14 sirens worked.

Indian Point siren test in Putnam not so silent

Indian Point siren test in Putnam not so silent
By GREG CLARY
(Original publication: July 5, 2007)
The Journal News
Putnam County residents who may have heard Indian Point's emergency sirens sound about 10:15 a.m. today can rest easy - nuclear plant officials were conducting what was supposed to be a silent test and inadvertantly pushed the wrong button.
"There was no emergency, but the sirens sounded for a couple of minutes," said Jim Steets, a spokesman for Indian Point. "We didn't get any calls from residents, but Putnam County did and at least they were able to say it was an error."
Entergy Nuclear Northeast, which owns and operates Indian Point, is testing each of 150 new sirens it is installing in the evacuation zone that runs 10 miles in every direction from its Buchanan site.
The company is working to meet an August deadline to replace a decades-old system and has run into some glitches with radio frequences and other technological problems that have twice delayed the new system.

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Again, again, again and again with the sirens!Posted by: ed on Thu Jul 05, 2007 5:31 pm
I dont have much faith in them when they cant even push the right button!Posted by: Matt on Thu Jul 05, 2007 4:26 pm
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Dear anactualcitizen Welcome to the real world of Entergy . Brought to you by Burston-Marsteller ( Today's myth, tomorrows tragedy )Posted by: ball on Thu Jul 05, 2007 2:21 pm
Just another little mistake. Just another little flipped switch. Let's face it when the level of incompetence reaches ground zero like it has at Indian Point it means they know they have the community by the short hairs. Do you think these sirens would be sounding off if Entergy president Michael Kansler actually lived in Buchanan? Okay, if we have to live with nuclear power give them a contract of 5 years or less. That's more than they deserve. After all if you had an employee working for you, with Indian Points track record, would you sign them up for a 20 year contract? PLUTONIUM IS FOREVER!Posted by: ball on Thu Jul 05, 2007 2:00 pm
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I just find this a little funny .... the opening statement on that site about how important spreading facts is .... "Entergy Nuclear Northeast has prepared this website to serve as a reliable source of information regarding our Indian Point Energy Center in Buchanan, N.Y. On this website we present FACTS to show that the plants are operating safely, that they function under the highest levels of security, and that they are a vital part of New York's energy marketplace. We feel citizens should have access to FACTS so they can form opinions about Indian Point based on REASON rather than emotion."
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And it is followed up immediately with this gem .... "Statement made by Actor Paul Newman regarding his recent tour of Indian Point on May 21, 2007" Are they serious? THE FACTS (as interpreted by Paul Newman)? They should use this site for information, not marketing BS.Posted by: anactualcitizen on Thu Jul 05, 2007 1:45 pm

Emotions stirred as relicensing hearings begin

Indian Point
Emotions stirred as relicensing hearings begin
By Abby Luby

Al Grioli from the Carpenters union

at the NRC meeting on

Indian Point relicensing

Union members and Entergy employees showed up in force last week to support the relicensing application of the Indian Point Nuclear Power Plant, responding with boos and jeers to those opposing the plant’s continued operation. The divisive crowd of over 400 people came to the first public meeting held by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) last week in what promises to be a contentious battle to extend the plant’s operating license.Crowded into the banquet hall at Colonial Terrace in Cortlandt Manor, both sides aired their views for more than two hours on the pros and cons of allowing the plant to operate 20 more years. The meeting kicked off the lengthy process overseen by the NRC, the federal oversight agency who is reviewing the renewal application submitted by Entergy Nuclear Northeast, the plant owner. The application to extend the operating license is for reactor units 1 and 2, for which the current license expires in 2013 and 2015, respectively. Entergy submitted the application in April.
Jobs at Indian Point

The Coalition of Labor for Energy and Jobs held a press conference in an adjacent hall just before the meeting. Spokespersons urged some 200 union members to speak out in support of Indian Point. Jerry Connolly, Business Manager of the International Brotherhood of Boilermakers, said he had worked at the plant in 1964. “This plant supplies reliable energy to the city and our members depend on Indian Point for jobs,” Connolly said.The coalition is made up by the Boilermakers Local 5, Millwrights and Machine Erectors Local 740 and Utility Workers 1-2. They were joined by the carpenters union and Teamsters International. Many were wearing T-shirts and caps and carrying signs reading “Right4NY.” Bob Seeger, business agent for Millwrights & Machinery ,told the men, “We’re not sending members into a place that’s not safe. We can’t afford to lose 2,000 megawatts of electricity (a day). If we did, on a day like today, our beer would get warm, our ice cream would melt and the air conditioners wouldn’t run.”The forum was slated as an information meeting to familiarize the public with the re-licensing process. The NRC project manager for Indian Point's relicensing application, Bo Pham, opened the public meeting saying the process could take up to two years.“We do not duplicate the regulatory process in the renewal process,” explained Pham, making clear that re-licensing only looks at how Entergy has managed the aging plant’s safety systems and the design and operation of structural components. Pham also stressed that the application was in its preliminary review and has not been formally accepted by the NRC.
Local Reps Buchanan Mayor Daniel O’Neill lauded the plant’s safety and advantages over a fossil fuel plant. “I can see the plant from my backyard and the people of Buchanan are the ones who live with the plant every day,” he said. “If this was a fossil fuel plant it would add to health problems. Nuclear power is so much better in terms of safety and environment.”To counter, Congressmen Eliot Engel and John Hall sent representatives who expressed concern about the ongoing radioactive leaks of Tritium and Strontium-90. Hall’s spokesperson, Susan Speer, cited plant safety as the critical issue. “The plant is located near eight percent of the population of the United States and each week brings another mishap,” Speer said on behalf of Hall.Hall has introduced “The Nuclear Power Licensing Reform Act” to oversee the relicensing process by Congress. Hall’s prepared statement said “Indian Point should not operate in a vacuum and neither should the relicensing process.” Engel spokesperson Joe O’Brien added that “Indian Point is a disaster waiting to happen.”Former Assemblyman Jerry Kremer, who writes opinion pieces for Newsday supporting nuclear power, said “Indian Point is more important than ever because we need the power and we can’t build a new plant until 2012.” The former assemblyman from Long Beach and member of the New York Affordable Reliable Electricity Alliance said nuclear power plants don’t release any greenhouse gases. He added that Indian Point provides over 1,000 jobs, eliciting thunderous applause from union members. Clean Energy?But others at the meeting from grassroots coalitions contended that nuclear power causes greenhouse gases and carbon emissions.“I’ve met union people who are looking at alternative energy because they know the jobs it produces,” said Marilyn Elie, member of the Indian Point Safe Energy Coalition. “That’s the future.” Elie asked Rani Franovich, Branch Chief in the NRC’s Division of License Renewal, if the NRC has acknowledged that green house gases produced by the nuclear fuel cycle. Franovich said that it is mentioned in the NRC’s generic environmental study. “But I don’t have it in front of me so we will actually have to come back to that question.” Elie persisted by responding, “Does the NRC’s generic environmental study validate that the nuclear fuel cycle releases green house gases?” “Yes, it does,” answered Franovich. Later on, Elie said that greenhouse gases are released in both the production of fuel rods and the refining of uranium in coal fired plants.Concerned Indian Point opponents asked why the emergency evacuation plan, considered unworkable because of the plant’s proximity to dense population areas, was not part of the relicensing application.Katonah resident Peter Harckham, who lives just outside the evacuation emergency planning zone, said he was one of the 40,000 people that had to evacuate the Harrisburg area during the meltdown at Three Mile Island in 1979. “We’ve had evacuation experiences since then with 9/11 and Katrina,” said Harckham. “This is serious stuff. You should be putting everything on the table, not looking at only a few major components [of the plant’s operation] as business as usual.”Union members were joined by Entergy workers wearing red T-shirts and caps emblazoned with “Entergy.” Although both Entergy employees and union members responded to statements with boos and cheers, few got up to speak. One that did was James Slevin of the Business Agent Utility Workers Union of America. “You can’t cut off this power because it can’t be replaced,” said Slevin. “Nuclear power is here and it is environmentally clean and inexpensive.”Phil Musegaas, of the environmental group Riverkeeper, referred to a letter to the NRC several weeks ago requesting the agency reject Entergy’s application because it was incomplete. “We have yet to hear back from the NRC, so we are repeating our request here in public,” he said. Musegaas asked the NRC about the consideration of spent fuel storage on site at the Buchanan plant as part of the renewal process. “Is there enough space on site to accommodate all the spent fuel as well as 1,000 tons of spent fuel being produced during the relicensing period?” NRC’s Pham said he didn’t have the answer. “I don’t know if anyone has looked if space is available for spent fuel storage. I do know that Entergy’s position is that spent fuel can be safely stored on site. I’ll have to get back to you on that.”There is currently over 1,500 tons of irradiated fuel stored in high-density pools at the Indian Point plants. The concern has been since 9/11 that the buildings housing the spent fuel are not designed to repel a terrorist attack. Entergy said in 2003 that its intention was to build on-site storage facilities by late 2007, but to date, is behind schedule.Musegaas slammed Entergy for polluting the Hudson River with super heated water from a discharge canal which, he said, was decimating the river’s fish population. “The Hudson River is the main recipient of Indian Point’s pollution,” said Musegaas. “This river does not belong to Entergy as their private dumping ground for radioactive and super heated water that will contaminate our environment for generations. The Hudson River belongs to all of us, it’s part of the public trust and it belongs to all Americans, including the union members that are here.”
New meeting updating siren systemEntergy pledged last year to rebuild an emergency siren system by January 2007. The company was unable to get some system components to work and failed to meet a second deadline extension to complete the four county siren system. The NRC imposed a one-time fine of $30,000, a sum plants are fined on a daily basis. The NRC has requested a meeting with Entergy to discuss technical issues of the siren system, such as dates for testing and completion for the new Emergency Notification System (ENS) with backup power.

School security plans upgraded yearly to handle the unexpected

School security plans upgraded yearly to handle the unexpected
By RANDI WEINERTHE JOURNAL NEWS
(Original publication: July 1, 2007)
A quiet school year usually means one thing to the public and something different to school security.
To the public, it means a time when the fire alarms are scheduled, students are in class most days, and events across the country are the focus of detached coffee-klatsch discussions.
School security officials consider what hasn't happened in addition to what has: Strangers have not been permitted to wander unreported, children were kept safe from predators or criminals, and school evacuations have been without panic or injury.
"It's been an active year in terms of upping our preparation but quiet in terms of response," said Pearl River spokeswoman Sandy Cokeley. "At the elementary and middle level, we've put cameras in all the buildings, greeters at the door to log in everybody who comes into the building. Certain doors are locked. At the high school … we have a security company we use on the campus, we have monitors that walk the halls, cameras … and we conducted drills in all the buildings."
For more than a decade, the state has required schools to have emergency plans in place for any foreseeable occurrence, from a teacher going into labor to a sniper shooting into a kindergarten room. The state also requires the plans to be reviewed each year.
Technology and world events have forced schools to do more than review. With each new security breach - whether mass murder at Virginia Tech or senior pranks like taping alarm clocks to the walls at Hendrick Hudson High School - administrators pull the plans and modify.
"The state requires that you have an emergency plan and that it be reviewed every year," said Leonard Bernstein, North Rockland's coordinator of transportation and emergency management. "It's a lot of stuff, a lot of information, but we take this seriously."
Mary Frascone, whose children attend Ramapo Central schools, said that her district's commitment to safety began long before Sept. 11, 2001, and that it has her complete approval.
"Every building has a security guard and they meet every person who comes in. I feel very secure," she said. "A visible presence is very important to me. I feel when I walk in the building, by them stopping me and asking me who I am ensures that they stop everyone."
Local emergency plan uses have run the gamut, from evacuating a Nanuet school during a bomb hoax in the fall to text messaging 500 people that Nyack High School's graduation would be postponed a day because of thunderstorms.
Several districts used their emergency plan procedures to alert families that someone on the state's sex offender list had moved into the area. North Rockland and Pearl River districts both locked down elementary schools after police reported they were chasing a robber nearby, and East Ramapo schools did a lockdown in the spring when police chased a man accused of invading a Spring Valley home. Superintendent Mitchell Schwartz said the security plan "worked well."
"It was reassuring to see how smoothly it went," Schwartz said.
A barricaded gunman near Clarkstown North High School in the fall meant that police and school officials had to change bus routes and alert students and parents to the change, said Clarkstown Schools Superintendent Margaret Keller-Cogan.
Clarkstown hired a safety consultant this year who evaluated all the schools and recommended several changes, including more drills and training. The district, like others, has locked most outside doors and placed security staff and greeters at the doors that are open. Grant money is being used to install swipe-card monitors on doors to control access.
"It's an unfortunate skill set to have to develop, but the changes in our culture and society have demanded it," Keller-Cogan said.
Cokeley said she borrowed an idea from Scarsdale schools to create bookmarks for staff and parents to tell them what to do in case the school put its emergency response plan into place. The parent bookmarks especially were needed, she said, because school personnel practice their parts in mock disaster drills, something parents don't do.
Rockland's eight public school districts have been changing safety plans as needed. Among the most recent: Nanuet has given walkie-talkies to security staff; South Orangetown will put cameras in all the school buses next year, and it hired a security firm for the front entrance of each school and to patrol the schools before and after hours. A prank fire drill in the spring was an orderly and quickly investigated occurrence, with students back in class in less than half an hour, Schools Superintendent Joseph Zambito said.
North Rockland schools just got in a new batch of potassium iodide pills to protect students and staff from radiation in case of disaster at Indian Point. The district's safety plan includes how to distribute the pills and how often they need to be replaced.
The Nyack district has money in next year's budget for five monitors on elementary school buses, has put cameras on all its buses, permits people to enter the elementary schools only by a buzzer worked from the school office, and is advertising for an independent security company to patrol its middle and high schools. It also upgraded its communication software to make sure community members and parents are alerted by e-mail and text messaging when needed. The text message about graduation worked extremely well, district spokeswoman Gail Fleur said.
East Ramapo, which is creating a new position for next year, a coordinator for security and safety, plans to place security cameras in each of the schools. The district also upgraded its informational alert capability to include computer and text messaging with the original phone calls.