Posted: Friday, 27 July 2007 3:19PM
Chemical Plants Warned of Attempt to Get Security Data
NEWARK, N.J. (AP) -- Chemical plants are being warned not to divulge security and safety procedures to a caller who claimed to be making a survey for an industry trade group. The caller gave a false phone number and the group is not conducting a survey.
At least three such calls were made earlier this month to plants in the Midwest, but no information was divulged, according to the Center for Chemical Process Safety, an industry group based in New York that sent an alert.
The calls raised concern in New Jersey, which has many chemical plants, said Elvin Montero, a spokesman for the Chemistry Council of New Jersey.
"It's taken seriously. Companies know the procedures to take,'' Montero said Friday. "Companies do not discuss their process safety or security measures over the phone, especially to someone they don't know.''
Montero declined to speculate on why such calls were made, but said the FBI and the New Jersey Office of Homeland Security and Preparedness had been informed.
FBI spokesman Richard Kolko in Washington said the agency was aware of the report and is looking into it.
A message for the state Homeland Security office was not immediately returned.
A spokesman for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Russ Knocke, said the matter had not yet been brought to his agency.
The bogus calls to chemical plants were reported in Friday's editions of The Record of Bergen County.
The caller claimed to be from the Center for Chemical Process Safety, and said it was conducting a survey. Scott Berger, director of the center, told the newspaper it is not conducting such a survey.
The chemical plants tried to track the calls, but were led to disconnected or nonexistent numbers, Berger said.
He declined to identify the companies that received the calls, the newspaper reported.
Berger was unavailable for comment Friday. A message left for an aide was not immediately returned.
In a related matter, the U.S. Senate on Thursday passed a measure by Sen. Frank R. Lautenberg, D-N.J., designed to let states enforce chemical safety laws that are more stringent than federal laws.
"The Bush Administration should not stop states from protecting their residents from chemical attacks,'' Lautenberg said in a statement issued Friday. "My provision is essential to New Jersey because we have the strongest chemical security laws in the nation.''
The American Chemistry Council, which represents the largest producers of chemicals in the country, strongly opposed the Lautenberg language, which was included in the Homeland Security appropriations bill.1010 WINS Safety & Security
For more information:Center for Chemical Process Safety: http://www.aiche.org/CCPS/
N.J. Office of Homeland Security: http://www.state.nj.us/njhomelandsecurity/
Friday, July 27, 2007
NRC ANNOUNCES OPPORTUNITY TO REQUEST HEARING ON APPLICATION TO RENEW OPERATING LICENSE FOR INDIAN POINT NUCLEAR POWER PLANT
NRC NEWSU.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
Office of Public Affairs
Telephone: 301/415-8200
Washington, DC 20555-0001
E-mail: opa@nrc.gov
www.nrc.gov
No. 07-091
July 25, 2007
NRC ANNOUNCES OPPORTUNITY TO REQUEST HEARING ON APPLICATION TO RENEW OPERATING LICENSE FOR INDIAN POINT NUCLEAR POWER PLANTPrintable Version
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission today announced the opportunity to request a hearing on an application to renew the operating licenses for the Indian Point nuclear power plant, Units 2 and 3, for an additional 20 years.
The Indian Point plant has two pressurized water reactors located in the town of Buchanan, N.Y., about 24 miles north of New York City. The plant owner, Entergy Nuclear Operations, Inc., submitted the renewal application April 30. The current operating licenses for Indian Point expire on Sept. 28, 2013, for Unit 2 and Dec. 12, 2015, for Unit 3. Indian Point Unit 1 was shut down in 1974.
The NRC staff has determined that the application contains sufficient information for the agency to formally “docket,” or file, the application and begin its technical review. Docketing the application does not preclude requesting additional information as the review proceeds; nor does it indicate whether the Commission will renew the licenses.
During the docketing review, NRC staff informed Entergy that the current licensing basis for Unit 2 was not fully represented and that the application did not include information on the gas turbines currently credited as an alternative power supply in case of “station blackout,” or loss of all alternating current (AC) power. Entergy subsequently committed to installing a diesel generator for Unit 2 and having it operational by April 30, 2008.
The NRC also received letters from the New York State Attorney General, Riverkeeper, and Friends United for Sustainable Energy (FUSE), asserting that Entergy’s license renewal application was incomplete or inaccurate. Although the NRC has determined that the application contains sufficient information to docket the application, the staff will consider these comments as appropriate during the technical review process.
The Indian Point application for license renewal is posted at http://www.nrc.gov/reactors/operating/licensing/renewal/applications/indian-point.html. An NRC review schedule for Indian Point will also be posted soon. Because of the pending installation of the diesel generator for Unit 2, the NRC staff anticipates the review will take 27 months if no hearing is granted, and 35 months with a hearing. Meeting this schedule will depend on Entergy’s prompt submission of all requested and necessary information. License renewal reviews typically take 22 months with no hearing, or 30 months with a hearing.
A notice of opportunity to request a hearing will be published soon in the Federal Register. The deadline for requesting a hearing is 60 days after publication of the notice. Petitions may be filed by anyone whose interest may be affected by the license renewal and who wishes to participate as a party in the proceeding. Background information regarding the hearing process was disseminated by NRC staff to members of the public during a public information session conducted near Indian Point on June 27.
A request for hearing and a petition for leave to intervene must be filed with the Secretary of the Commission, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, D.C. 20555-0001, Attention: Rulemaking and Adjudications Staff. Requests may also be submitted by facsimile to (301) 415-1101 or e-mail to HEARINGDOCKET@nrc.gov. A copy should also be submitted to the NRC Office of General Counsel, by facsimile to (301) 415-3725 or e-mail to OGCMailCenter@nrc.gov.
Information about the license renewal process can be found on the NRC Web site at http://www.nrc.gov/reactors/operating/licensing/renewal.html.
Office of Public Affairs
Telephone: 301/415-8200
Washington, DC 20555-0001
E-mail: opa@nrc.gov
www.nrc.gov
No. 07-091
July 25, 2007
NRC ANNOUNCES OPPORTUNITY TO REQUEST HEARING ON APPLICATION TO RENEW OPERATING LICENSE FOR INDIAN POINT NUCLEAR POWER PLANTPrintable Version
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission today announced the opportunity to request a hearing on an application to renew the operating licenses for the Indian Point nuclear power plant, Units 2 and 3, for an additional 20 years.
The Indian Point plant has two pressurized water reactors located in the town of Buchanan, N.Y., about 24 miles north of New York City. The plant owner, Entergy Nuclear Operations, Inc., submitted the renewal application April 30. The current operating licenses for Indian Point expire on Sept. 28, 2013, for Unit 2 and Dec. 12, 2015, for Unit 3. Indian Point Unit 1 was shut down in 1974.
The NRC staff has determined that the application contains sufficient information for the agency to formally “docket,” or file, the application and begin its technical review. Docketing the application does not preclude requesting additional information as the review proceeds; nor does it indicate whether the Commission will renew the licenses.
During the docketing review, NRC staff informed Entergy that the current licensing basis for Unit 2 was not fully represented and that the application did not include information on the gas turbines currently credited as an alternative power supply in case of “station blackout,” or loss of all alternating current (AC) power. Entergy subsequently committed to installing a diesel generator for Unit 2 and having it operational by April 30, 2008.
The NRC also received letters from the New York State Attorney General, Riverkeeper, and Friends United for Sustainable Energy (FUSE), asserting that Entergy’s license renewal application was incomplete or inaccurate. Although the NRC has determined that the application contains sufficient information to docket the application, the staff will consider these comments as appropriate during the technical review process.
The Indian Point application for license renewal is posted at http://www.nrc.gov/reactors/operating/licensing/renewal/applications/indian-point.html. An NRC review schedule for Indian Point will also be posted soon. Because of the pending installation of the diesel generator for Unit 2, the NRC staff anticipates the review will take 27 months if no hearing is granted, and 35 months with a hearing. Meeting this schedule will depend on Entergy’s prompt submission of all requested and necessary information. License renewal reviews typically take 22 months with no hearing, or 30 months with a hearing.
A notice of opportunity to request a hearing will be published soon in the Federal Register. The deadline for requesting a hearing is 60 days after publication of the notice. Petitions may be filed by anyone whose interest may be affected by the license renewal and who wishes to participate as a party in the proceeding. Background information regarding the hearing process was disseminated by NRC staff to members of the public during a public information session conducted near Indian Point on June 27.
A request for hearing and a petition for leave to intervene must be filed with the Secretary of the Commission, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, D.C. 20555-0001, Attention: Rulemaking and Adjudications Staff. Requests may also be submitted by facsimile to (301) 415-1101 or e-mail to HEARINGDOCKET@nrc.gov. A copy should also be submitted to the NRC Office of General Counsel, by facsimile to (301) 415-3725 or e-mail to OGCMailCenter@nrc.gov.
Information about the license renewal process can be found on the NRC Web site at http://www.nrc.gov/reactors/operating/licensing/renewal.html.
Thursday, July 26, 2007
NRC accepts IP license renewal applications
NRC accepts IP license renewal applications
Washington – The staff of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission Wednesday formally accepted Entergy’s applications to apply for 20 year license renewal for its Indian Point nuclear power plant Unit 2 and Unit 3.
Entergy submitted the renewal application on April 30. The license for Indian Point Unit 2 expires on Sept. 28, 2013, and on Dec. 12, 2015, for Unit 3. Indian Point Unit 1 was shut down in 1974.
The NRC staff has determined that the application contains sufficient information for the agency to formally “docket,” or file, the application and begin its technical review.
Indian Point spokesman James Steets said the application process will now begin in earnest.
“This officially kicks off the licensing period where we are going to be able to demonstrate that these plants are needed, that they are safe, that they can operate safely for another 20 years, that these plants are truly right for New York,” he said. “I know that is going to arouse some interest and some debate, but we look forward to that debate because we are very confident that we can make a strong case that these plants need to continue operating.”
The NRC also received letters from the New York State Attorney General, Riverkeeper, and Friends United for Sustainable Energy, asserting that Entergy’s license renewal application was incomplete or inaccurate. Although the NRC has determined that the application contains sufficient information to docket the application, the staff will consider these comments as appropriate during the technical review process.
The Indian Point application for license renewal is posted at www.nrc.gov/reactors/operating/licensing/renewal/applications/indian-point.html.
An NRC review schedule for Indian Point will also be posted soon.
Washington – The staff of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission Wednesday formally accepted Entergy’s applications to apply for 20 year license renewal for its Indian Point nuclear power plant Unit 2 and Unit 3.
Entergy submitted the renewal application on April 30. The license for Indian Point Unit 2 expires on Sept. 28, 2013, and on Dec. 12, 2015, for Unit 3. Indian Point Unit 1 was shut down in 1974.
The NRC staff has determined that the application contains sufficient information for the agency to formally “docket,” or file, the application and begin its technical review.
Indian Point spokesman James Steets said the application process will now begin in earnest.
“This officially kicks off the licensing period where we are going to be able to demonstrate that these plants are needed, that they are safe, that they can operate safely for another 20 years, that these plants are truly right for New York,” he said. “I know that is going to arouse some interest and some debate, but we look forward to that debate because we are very confident that we can make a strong case that these plants need to continue operating.”
The NRC also received letters from the New York State Attorney General, Riverkeeper, and Friends United for Sustainable Energy, asserting that Entergy’s license renewal application was incomplete or inaccurate. Although the NRC has determined that the application contains sufficient information to docket the application, the staff will consider these comments as appropriate during the technical review process.
The Indian Point application for license renewal is posted at www.nrc.gov/reactors/operating/licensing/renewal/applications/indian-point.html.
An NRC review schedule for Indian Point will also be posted soon.
Indian Point relicensing bid gets federal nod; review to start
Thursday, July 26, 2007 Indian Point relicensing bid gets federal nod; review to start Gannett News Service
BUCHANAN - Federal nuclear regulators yesterday accepted Indian Point's relicensing application to keep the nuclear plant operating until 2035, kicking off what will likely be a combative review that could last three years.
The acceptance by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission also starts a 60-day period for the public to request and participate in formal hearings on issues they want the federal government to address during the relicensing process.
"We've just completed our review and we're at the point where we're comfortable enough to go forward," said Neil Sheehan, a spokesman for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. "The window for requesting a hearing is going to be opened."
The battle will decide whether nuclear reactors will continue to produce electricity in the Hudson Valley, part of one of the nation's most densely populated areas.
The combatants could end up including everyone from Gov. Eliot Spitzer, the local congressional delegation and elected officials to environmental groups and nuclear industry activists.
Indian Point 2's license is set to expire Sept. 28, 2013, and Indian Point 3's on Dec. 12, 2015.
"Their acceptance of the application officially kicks off the process," Entergy Nuclear spokesman Jim Steets said. "To that extent, we look forward to making the case for these plants to continue to operate."
Officials from Riverkeeper, an environmental group that opposes the plant's operation, said they expect to fight the plants' renewals as long as necessary.
"Although it's nothing new, the NRC acceptance of Entergy's applications fails to address vital environmental concerns Riverkeeper raised ... in a 17-page letter to the NRC," Lisa Rainwater said.
She said Riverkeeper has pointed to three key concerns: how the plant's cooling system affects aquatic life and warms the Hudson River as well as ongoing leaks of radioactive isotopes tritium and strontium 90.
BUCHANAN - Federal nuclear regulators yesterday accepted Indian Point's relicensing application to keep the nuclear plant operating until 2035, kicking off what will likely be a combative review that could last three years.
The acceptance by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission also starts a 60-day period for the public to request and participate in formal hearings on issues they want the federal government to address during the relicensing process.
"We've just completed our review and we're at the point where we're comfortable enough to go forward," said Neil Sheehan, a spokesman for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. "The window for requesting a hearing is going to be opened."
The battle will decide whether nuclear reactors will continue to produce electricity in the Hudson Valley, part of one of the nation's most densely populated areas.
The combatants could end up including everyone from Gov. Eliot Spitzer, the local congressional delegation and elected officials to environmental groups and nuclear industry activists.
Indian Point 2's license is set to expire Sept. 28, 2013, and Indian Point 3's on Dec. 12, 2015.
"Their acceptance of the application officially kicks off the process," Entergy Nuclear spokesman Jim Steets said. "To that extent, we look forward to making the case for these plants to continue to operate."
Officials from Riverkeeper, an environmental group that opposes the plant's operation, said they expect to fight the plants' renewals as long as necessary.
"Although it's nothing new, the NRC acceptance of Entergy's applications fails to address vital environmental concerns Riverkeeper raised ... in a 17-page letter to the NRC," Lisa Rainwater said.
She said Riverkeeper has pointed to three key concerns: how the plant's cooling system affects aquatic life and warms the Hudson River as well as ongoing leaks of radioactive isotopes tritium and strontium 90.
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Feds accept Indian Point's re-licensing application
Wednesday, July 25, 2007 Feds accept Indian Point's re-licensing application Gannett News Service
Federal nuclear regulators announced today that they have accepted Indian Point's re-licensing application that would allow the nuclear to remain open until 2035, officially kicking off the 27-to-35-month review process.The date is also important because it starts a 60-day clock for any entity to request a formal hearing from the federal government.Entergy Nuclear announced its plan to go for 20-year extension for Indian Point 2 and Indian Point 3 the day before Thanksgiving 2006. The company filed the document April 30th of this year.The acceptance ran into a delay when the Nuclear Regulatory Commission found the application lacking on the issue of back up power source and the company responded by committing to a diesel fuel generator for Indian Point 2.Indian Point 2's license is set to expire Sept. 28, 2013 and Indian Point 3's on Dec. 12, 2015.
Federal nuclear regulators announced today that they have accepted Indian Point's re-licensing application that would allow the nuclear to remain open until 2035, officially kicking off the 27-to-35-month review process.The date is also important because it starts a 60-day clock for any entity to request a formal hearing from the federal government.Entergy Nuclear announced its plan to go for 20-year extension for Indian Point 2 and Indian Point 3 the day before Thanksgiving 2006. The company filed the document April 30th of this year.The acceptance ran into a delay when the Nuclear Regulatory Commission found the application lacking on the issue of back up power source and the company responded by committing to a diesel fuel generator for Indian Point 2.Indian Point 2's license is set to expire Sept. 28, 2013 and Indian Point 3's on Dec. 12, 2015.
Local officials upset about uranium 235 at Indian Point
Local officials upset about uranium 235 at Indian Point
By GREG CLARYTHE JOURNAL NEWS
(Original publication: July 25, 2007)
WHITE PLAINS -Local emergency officials are angry that they were not told that federal regulators will require Indian Point to verify that a tiny quantity of weapons-grade uranium 235 is properly stored and documented at the nuclear plant.
"I'm more than a little upset," said Anthony Sutton, Westchester County's commissioner of emergency services. "It's a little disconcerting to open the newspaper (yesterday) morning and read this and then find out that they briefed the congressional delegation on (Friday)."
Sutton said he was writing a letter to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission noting his dissatisfaction with the agency for not sharing with the counties information like this when local emergency officials would be the first responders in the event of an emergency.
NRC spokesman Neil Sheehan said the agency notified only the congressional offices representing the district because NRC officials considered the information of a sensitive nature.
"There's a security component to this because it involves special nuclear material," Sheehan said of the uranium 235, an unstable radioactive isotope that has been used in much larger quantities to make bombs. "Certainly we're not trying to deprive the counties of any essential information regarding Indian Point. We've gone to great lengths to keep them in the loop on significant developments there."
The agency told Entergy Nuclear Northeast, which owns and operates Indian Point, that the company needed to open a stainless steel box that is bolted shut and expected to house 32 broken pieces of old mechanisms used by the plant's previous owners to check the power levels of the nuclear reactor.
The pieces are about 2 to 3 feet long, said Entergy spokesman Jim Steets, and contain 8/10,000s of a gram of uranium 235 each. Steets said the company is confident the rods are inside the container, located in the spent fuel pool of Indian Point 3.
Because of the small amount of uranium 235 and the complex process of opening the container, the company opted to check the contents during its annual inspection next month.
"On a scale of safety significance, this is near zero," Steets said.
Entergy officials said they were not aware that the container - stored since 1988-89 - needed to be inspected annually.
The NRC has not cited Indian Point on this issue and Sheehan said the agency would wait until the container is opened next month before deciding on possible enforcement. Even if the pieces are missing, Sheehan said, it would constitute the lowest severity enforcement on the agency's scale.
Dan Greeley, Rockland County's top emergency official for Indian Point, sat in on a 90-minute conference call yesterday between the counties and the NRC and was also upset about not being told of the latest development.
"If this stuff is not there, they might as well just bury themselves at sea," Greeley said of Indian Point. "It would be easier to be eaten by sharks. But my bigger question is what are they going to find when they turn the next stone over?"
Attempts to reach emergency and elected officials from Putnam and Orange counties late yesterday were unsuccessful.
Reach Greg Clary at gclary@lohud.com or 914-696-8566.
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Dear "Ball" , I hate to always have to address your childish non-issues, while the true issue is whether a Gannett outlet is catering to hype cooked up by witless, visionless politicians needing the antinuke email lists of a couple of thousand names to keep them in office...... and the issue is whether Gannett, and the TJN editorial board have become too insular, too cozy with White Plains thinking, too dependent on newsless dissemination of anti-nuke boilerplate, and thus become more retellers of Democratic party myths, than in touch with on-the-ground events. ("Events"...as in "News"..... not Lowey press blurbs) But now on to your non-issues. As far as I am aware, Burston Marsteller doesn't write any blog comments. All they put together are some pretty adverts and some artistic brochures at the corporate level. They have no connection whatsoever with either Entergy's employee grassroots organization, the many local and vocal supporters of Indian Point in Northwest Westchester, or with the scads of independent citizens attempting to break the hysteria chokehold a few agitators have on local media. So you can stop squealing irrelevantly about Burston Marsteller, they are in fact, nowhere to be found. Now on to why I post here. I hate unresearched misleading hysterical bullcrap that is aimed cluelessly at making my existence as a homeowner unsustainable here. Take away Indian Point, and I guarantee a tripling of whatever your current electrical rates are. Of course if you are a dependent minor, that's of no concern to you. Take away Indian Point, and Linda Puglisi has stated that Cortlandt taxes would rise by 100%. You and I both know that every other municipality around here would kick their rates up in concert with Cortlandt. Take away Indian Point, and the local avalanche of power use by new development, Peekskill, White Plains, route 6 businesses, the JV mall, etc, Yonkers, and NYC would cause recurrent brownouts and blackouts, reducing business viability, losing jobs, and tipping the 4 county region over the edge into sprawl-blight.... the suburban povertization evidenced by abandoned malls, decaying unbought housing stock, foreign illegal minority influx, squatting, crime, gangs and decay. (Check out Spring Valley if you are wondering what I'm talking about.... or go visit Prince George's county in Maryland, or even Yonkers, sad to say). You cannot afford NOT to have Indian Point. And as far as "gibberish", please tell us all just what a "nuclear yoke" is. The concept of a "nuclear yoke" is a sort of cult-talk, junk sloganism, sort of like "Ammonia is Forever", or whatever your other meaningless puerile yelp is. (That so called yoke is upholding every lifestyle within 150 miles, and paying a billion dollars in taxes, so you and I don't have to make up the shortfall when its gone.) The fact that NRC asks Entergy to do a nuclear materials inventory update, is a trivial interchange between regulator and owner. It is NOT news. Nor has Kashiwazaki plant in Japan any lesson to teach America, except the lesson that the nuke plant was the strongest building in Kashiwazaki prefecture, and survived better than any other comparable structure. Yet we find TJN mewling "could it happen here?" Could WHAT happen here? An Earthquake? Sure it can. And if it does, Indian Point will stand tall, while the TJN building falls on its derrier. If it DOES happen here, just don't get caught in Hartsdale, White Plains, Scarsdale, Bronxville, or west Mount Vernon, because the 110-year-old mortarless unmaintained Kensico dam will come tumbling down, and a 300 foot high tsunami will zoom down the Bronx River valley at about 400 miles per hour, and wash Gannett's building (or what remains of it) up onto Riker's Island about 20 minutes later. But they aren't worried about THAT. They just worry if a teacup of radioactive orange juice might tip over, and maybe irritate a cockroach or two on the Kashiwazaki cafeteria floor. It's myopic agitprop-inspired bullcrap. When the Westchester mall takes a Richter 7 quake hit, and 10,000 shoppers are buried alive, what good is Nita Lowey's self serving antinuke "outrage" then? No country has nuclear power , or indeed any other kind of power, without incident. Each and every power plant has about 500 to 1500 workers, hundreds of whom are maintenance specialists hired to fix broken stuff. Stuff breaks all the time, everywhere, and especially in high energy factories like power plants. Its not news, and its of no concern to the customer. However, local pols have no comparable high profile issue, and depend on leveraging Indian Point as a boost for their own visibility, and so they drill down into internal IPEC trivia, and exclaim "Oh dear--- I am Sooooo Outraaaaged!" Its electoral histrionics, and unfortunately, it is 180 degrees counter to the wishes of the local populace, and to the needs of the local taxpayer. Gannett should definitely not become its purveyor, even on a slow day. So Who is going to alert everyone to all this? Answer: I am.
Posted by: VP_VP on Wed Jul 25, 2007 1:16 pm
Anyone who reads the Journal News can see with their own eyes that Playland does not get a free ride. If they can't do the job right, shut them down. I'm not sure if I'm all for shutting down Indian Point just yet. Several foreign countries have nuclear power without incident, why can't we? Perhaps if Entergy spent more time and effort making sure IP really was safe and secure they could spend less time playing kill the messenger in regards to so many unflattering newspaper stories. Just ask yourself, if Entergy is doing such a good job why would they spend millions of dollars to hire the public relations firm of Burston- Marsteller to spin their dirty laundry clean? Ever wonder why there are so many vocal pro Entergy supporters? ( After all, being a pro Entergy supporter is kind of like reading the collected works of Charles Dickens and coming to the conclusion that Uriah Heep was his greatest protagonist.) Please go to Google and put in Alter Net : How Reporters Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Nuclear Front Groups. It might make some sense out of all the gibberish our friend VP is spewing. I sincerely hope my comments and observations are reaching more than just the usual collection of pro Entergy/nuclear power flacks. Not being part of any organization pro or con the only feedback I get is right at this sight. I hope we don't spend another twenty years under Energies nuclear yoke. No matter how hard you try, you'll never convince a snake to take a walk.
Posted by: ball on Wed Jul 25, 2007 7:46 am
Today's Episode Of:..... "One Nuke to Bash" As in all soap operas, each and every actor gets to pose, and mouth a few lines on the pages of Gannett, changing nothing, assisting nobody, making no one either more or less safe in any way, but Gannett will have the honor of having featured each one, and allowed them to publicly pose....And of course, as I pointed out yesterday, to truly have an activist press blitz, one needs to have a story yesterday, a story today, and a story tomorrow, and maybe a feature on Sunday, all about minor trivialities at Indian Point. Then maybe next Tuesday, a feature recapping all of this week's stories. That's how agenda PR works, basically. This particular episode is very much like the time Geraldo Rivera had a big raveup about opening Al Capone's safe in primetime. (It was empty). Bummer, Geraldo. In his case, it looks like no news at all was the big news, huh? Hey!....In this case too, actually! Now....Let me see how those exciting rods could have left the box, the pool, and disappeared like scarface's big stash. First, A diver would have to suit up, and swim among hot uranium fuel rods, all without anybody noticing, and no motion detectors going off. Then he would have to handle the box, absorbing whatever zoomies he would get while opening it. Then he would obviously put the 32 rods in a Walmart's bag, ignoring the radiation burns beginning to appear on his hands, and just simply walk out through all the radiation-sensing portals , none of which would catch a single alpha particle, clanking, and dripping, and glowing ever-so-slightly, until he could get the rods out to the Peekskill farmer's market, where he would sell them as "souvenier glow-sticks". Makes sense to me.....Right? Oh well, you gotta have "nuke" stories each day, right? Forget about checking the safety devices in Playland, or the level of supervision on the rides. That's not worth any reportage is it? Its just a Westchester County-run slaughter house that kills young people with sickening regularity, having killed and injured many more folks than the entire American Commercial Nuclear industry in all of its history. But it's owned by our Gannett buddy Andy Spano, and we gotta cut him some slack, or he won't grant us any more phone interviews, right? Better to Bash the Nuke. Gets us in with the local bigwigs, and we all look good. Its tough being an activist newspaper. There's so much you have to leave out!
Posted by: VP_VP on Wed Jul 25, 2007 5:05 am
By GREG CLARYTHE JOURNAL NEWS
(Original publication: July 25, 2007)
WHITE PLAINS -Local emergency officials are angry that they were not told that federal regulators will require Indian Point to verify that a tiny quantity of weapons-grade uranium 235 is properly stored and documented at the nuclear plant.
"I'm more than a little upset," said Anthony Sutton, Westchester County's commissioner of emergency services. "It's a little disconcerting to open the newspaper (yesterday) morning and read this and then find out that they briefed the congressional delegation on (Friday)."
Sutton said he was writing a letter to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission noting his dissatisfaction with the agency for not sharing with the counties information like this when local emergency officials would be the first responders in the event of an emergency.
NRC spokesman Neil Sheehan said the agency notified only the congressional offices representing the district because NRC officials considered the information of a sensitive nature.
"There's a security component to this because it involves special nuclear material," Sheehan said of the uranium 235, an unstable radioactive isotope that has been used in much larger quantities to make bombs. "Certainly we're not trying to deprive the counties of any essential information regarding Indian Point. We've gone to great lengths to keep them in the loop on significant developments there."
The agency told Entergy Nuclear Northeast, which owns and operates Indian Point, that the company needed to open a stainless steel box that is bolted shut and expected to house 32 broken pieces of old mechanisms used by the plant's previous owners to check the power levels of the nuclear reactor.
The pieces are about 2 to 3 feet long, said Entergy spokesman Jim Steets, and contain 8/10,000s of a gram of uranium 235 each. Steets said the company is confident the rods are inside the container, located in the spent fuel pool of Indian Point 3.
Because of the small amount of uranium 235 and the complex process of opening the container, the company opted to check the contents during its annual inspection next month.
"On a scale of safety significance, this is near zero," Steets said.
Entergy officials said they were not aware that the container - stored since 1988-89 - needed to be inspected annually.
The NRC has not cited Indian Point on this issue and Sheehan said the agency would wait until the container is opened next month before deciding on possible enforcement. Even if the pieces are missing, Sheehan said, it would constitute the lowest severity enforcement on the agency's scale.
Dan Greeley, Rockland County's top emergency official for Indian Point, sat in on a 90-minute conference call yesterday between the counties and the NRC and was also upset about not being told of the latest development.
"If this stuff is not there, they might as well just bury themselves at sea," Greeley said of Indian Point. "It would be easier to be eaten by sharks. But my bigger question is what are they going to find when they turn the next stone over?"
Attempts to reach emergency and elected officials from Putnam and Orange counties late yesterday were unsuccessful.
Reach Greg Clary at gclary@lohud.com or 914-696-8566.
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Dear "Ball" , I hate to always have to address your childish non-issues, while the true issue is whether a Gannett outlet is catering to hype cooked up by witless, visionless politicians needing the antinuke email lists of a couple of thousand names to keep them in office...... and the issue is whether Gannett, and the TJN editorial board have become too insular, too cozy with White Plains thinking, too dependent on newsless dissemination of anti-nuke boilerplate, and thus become more retellers of Democratic party myths, than in touch with on-the-ground events. ("Events"...as in "News"..... not Lowey press blurbs) But now on to your non-issues. As far as I am aware, Burston Marsteller doesn't write any blog comments. All they put together are some pretty adverts and some artistic brochures at the corporate level. They have no connection whatsoever with either Entergy's employee grassroots organization, the many local and vocal supporters of Indian Point in Northwest Westchester, or with the scads of independent citizens attempting to break the hysteria chokehold a few agitators have on local media. So you can stop squealing irrelevantly about Burston Marsteller, they are in fact, nowhere to be found. Now on to why I post here. I hate unresearched misleading hysterical bullcrap that is aimed cluelessly at making my existence as a homeowner unsustainable here. Take away Indian Point, and I guarantee a tripling of whatever your current electrical rates are. Of course if you are a dependent minor, that's of no concern to you. Take away Indian Point, and Linda Puglisi has stated that Cortlandt taxes would rise by 100%. You and I both know that every other municipality around here would kick their rates up in concert with Cortlandt. Take away Indian Point, and the local avalanche of power use by new development, Peekskill, White Plains, route 6 businesses, the JV mall, etc, Yonkers, and NYC would cause recurrent brownouts and blackouts, reducing business viability, losing jobs, and tipping the 4 county region over the edge into sprawl-blight.... the suburban povertization evidenced by abandoned malls, decaying unbought housing stock, foreign illegal minority influx, squatting, crime, gangs and decay. (Check out Spring Valley if you are wondering what I'm talking about.... or go visit Prince George's county in Maryland, or even Yonkers, sad to say). You cannot afford NOT to have Indian Point. And as far as "gibberish", please tell us all just what a "nuclear yoke" is. The concept of a "nuclear yoke" is a sort of cult-talk, junk sloganism, sort of like "Ammonia is Forever", or whatever your other meaningless puerile yelp is. (That so called yoke is upholding every lifestyle within 150 miles, and paying a billion dollars in taxes, so you and I don't have to make up the shortfall when its gone.) The fact that NRC asks Entergy to do a nuclear materials inventory update, is a trivial interchange between regulator and owner. It is NOT news. Nor has Kashiwazaki plant in Japan any lesson to teach America, except the lesson that the nuke plant was the strongest building in Kashiwazaki prefecture, and survived better than any other comparable structure. Yet we find TJN mewling "could it happen here?" Could WHAT happen here? An Earthquake? Sure it can. And if it does, Indian Point will stand tall, while the TJN building falls on its derrier. If it DOES happen here, just don't get caught in Hartsdale, White Plains, Scarsdale, Bronxville, or west Mount Vernon, because the 110-year-old mortarless unmaintained Kensico dam will come tumbling down, and a 300 foot high tsunami will zoom down the Bronx River valley at about 400 miles per hour, and wash Gannett's building (or what remains of it) up onto Riker's Island about 20 minutes later. But they aren't worried about THAT. They just worry if a teacup of radioactive orange juice might tip over, and maybe irritate a cockroach or two on the Kashiwazaki cafeteria floor. It's myopic agitprop-inspired bullcrap. When the Westchester mall takes a Richter 7 quake hit, and 10,000 shoppers are buried alive, what good is Nita Lowey's self serving antinuke "outrage" then? No country has nuclear power , or indeed any other kind of power, without incident. Each and every power plant has about 500 to 1500 workers, hundreds of whom are maintenance specialists hired to fix broken stuff. Stuff breaks all the time, everywhere, and especially in high energy factories like power plants. Its not news, and its of no concern to the customer. However, local pols have no comparable high profile issue, and depend on leveraging Indian Point as a boost for their own visibility, and so they drill down into internal IPEC trivia, and exclaim "Oh dear--- I am Sooooo Outraaaaged!" Its electoral histrionics, and unfortunately, it is 180 degrees counter to the wishes of the local populace, and to the needs of the local taxpayer. Gannett should definitely not become its purveyor, even on a slow day. So Who is going to alert everyone to all this? Answer: I am.
Posted by: VP_VP on Wed Jul 25, 2007 1:16 pm
Anyone who reads the Journal News can see with their own eyes that Playland does not get a free ride. If they can't do the job right, shut them down. I'm not sure if I'm all for shutting down Indian Point just yet. Several foreign countries have nuclear power without incident, why can't we? Perhaps if Entergy spent more time and effort making sure IP really was safe and secure they could spend less time playing kill the messenger in regards to so many unflattering newspaper stories. Just ask yourself, if Entergy is doing such a good job why would they spend millions of dollars to hire the public relations firm of Burston- Marsteller to spin their dirty laundry clean? Ever wonder why there are so many vocal pro Entergy supporters? ( After all, being a pro Entergy supporter is kind of like reading the collected works of Charles Dickens and coming to the conclusion that Uriah Heep was his greatest protagonist.) Please go to Google and put in Alter Net : How Reporters Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Nuclear Front Groups. It might make some sense out of all the gibberish our friend VP is spewing. I sincerely hope my comments and observations are reaching more than just the usual collection of pro Entergy/nuclear power flacks. Not being part of any organization pro or con the only feedback I get is right at this sight. I hope we don't spend another twenty years under Energies nuclear yoke. No matter how hard you try, you'll never convince a snake to take a walk.
Posted by: ball on Wed Jul 25, 2007 7:46 am
Today's Episode Of:..... "One Nuke to Bash" As in all soap operas, each and every actor gets to pose, and mouth a few lines on the pages of Gannett, changing nothing, assisting nobody, making no one either more or less safe in any way, but Gannett will have the honor of having featured each one, and allowed them to publicly pose....And of course, as I pointed out yesterday, to truly have an activist press blitz, one needs to have a story yesterday, a story today, and a story tomorrow, and maybe a feature on Sunday, all about minor trivialities at Indian Point. Then maybe next Tuesday, a feature recapping all of this week's stories. That's how agenda PR works, basically. This particular episode is very much like the time Geraldo Rivera had a big raveup about opening Al Capone's safe in primetime. (It was empty). Bummer, Geraldo. In his case, it looks like no news at all was the big news, huh? Hey!....In this case too, actually! Now....Let me see how those exciting rods could have left the box, the pool, and disappeared like scarface's big stash. First, A diver would have to suit up, and swim among hot uranium fuel rods, all without anybody noticing, and no motion detectors going off. Then he would have to handle the box, absorbing whatever zoomies he would get while opening it. Then he would obviously put the 32 rods in a Walmart's bag, ignoring the radiation burns beginning to appear on his hands, and just simply walk out through all the radiation-sensing portals , none of which would catch a single alpha particle, clanking, and dripping, and glowing ever-so-slightly, until he could get the rods out to the Peekskill farmer's market, where he would sell them as "souvenier glow-sticks". Makes sense to me.....Right? Oh well, you gotta have "nuke" stories each day, right? Forget about checking the safety devices in Playland, or the level of supervision on the rides. That's not worth any reportage is it? Its just a Westchester County-run slaughter house that kills young people with sickening regularity, having killed and injured many more folks than the entire American Commercial Nuclear industry in all of its history. But it's owned by our Gannett buddy Andy Spano, and we gotta cut him some slack, or he won't grant us any more phone interviews, right? Better to Bash the Nuke. Gets us in with the local bigwigs, and we all look good. Its tough being an activist newspaper. There's so much you have to leave out!
Posted by: VP_VP on Wed Jul 25, 2007 5:05 am
Feds accept Indian Point's re-licensing application
Feds accept Indian Point's re-licensing application
(Original publication: July 25, 2007)
Greg Clary
The Journal News
Federal nuclear regulators announced today that they have accepted Indian Point's re-licensing application that would allow the nuclear to remain open until 2035, officially kicking off the 27-to-35-month review process.
The date is also important because it starts a 60-day clock for any entity to request a formal hearing from the federal government.
Entergy Nuclear announced its plan to go for 20-year extension for Indian Point 2 and Indian Point 3 the day before Thanksgiving 2006. The company filed the document April 30th of this year.
The acceptance ran into a delay when the Nuclear Regulatory Commission found the application lacking on the issue of back up power source and the company responded by committing to a diesel fuel generator for Indian Point 2.
Indian Point 2's license is set to expire Sept. 28, 2013 and Indian Point 3's on Dec. 12, 2015.
(Original publication: July 25, 2007)
Greg Clary
The Journal News
Federal nuclear regulators announced today that they have accepted Indian Point's re-licensing application that would allow the nuclear to remain open until 2035, officially kicking off the 27-to-35-month review process.
The date is also important because it starts a 60-day clock for any entity to request a formal hearing from the federal government.
Entergy Nuclear announced its plan to go for 20-year extension for Indian Point 2 and Indian Point 3 the day before Thanksgiving 2006. The company filed the document April 30th of this year.
The acceptance ran into a delay when the Nuclear Regulatory Commission found the application lacking on the issue of back up power source and the company responded by committing to a diesel fuel generator for Indian Point 2.
Indian Point 2's license is set to expire Sept. 28, 2013 and Indian Point 3's on Dec. 12, 2015.
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Hillary asks Entergy to OK safety reviews
Hillary asks Entergy to OK safety reviews
July 24, 2007
Buchanan - Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton has used the legislative stick to try and get her way on Indian Point. Now, she’s using the diplomatic carrot.On Thursday, the New York Democrat and presidential hopeful called on Indian Point owner and Entergy CEO Wayne Leonard to approve a so-called independent safety assessment of the plant.In April, Entergy submitted an application to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission for renewal of operating licenses. Plant critics want the NRC to evaluate plant security and emergency preparedness as part of the license review process, but the federal agency has so far refused. So Clinton has turned to lobbying Entergy itself. She met with Leonard in Washington last week. But it might be back to the drawing board for the senator. Entergy, which has quietly opposed the idea of a safety assessment in the past, was noncommittal after the senatorial sit down. “We understand the Senator’s issues and appreciate her thoughts and ideas,” Leonard said in a statement. “We look forward to continuing a productive dialogue in the future and are committed to addressing the senator’s concerns.”Greg Bruno
July 24, 2007
Buchanan - Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton has used the legislative stick to try and get her way on Indian Point. Now, she’s using the diplomatic carrot.On Thursday, the New York Democrat and presidential hopeful called on Indian Point owner and Entergy CEO Wayne Leonard to approve a so-called independent safety assessment of the plant.In April, Entergy submitted an application to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission for renewal of operating licenses. Plant critics want the NRC to evaluate plant security and emergency preparedness as part of the license review process, but the federal agency has so far refused. So Clinton has turned to lobbying Entergy itself. She met with Leonard in Washington last week. But it might be back to the drawing board for the senator. Entergy, which has quietly opposed the idea of a safety assessment in the past, was noncommittal after the senatorial sit down. “We understand the Senator’s issues and appreciate her thoughts and ideas,” Leonard said in a statement. “We look forward to continuing a productive dialogue in the future and are committed to addressing the senator’s concerns.”Greg Bruno
Nuclear regulators want updated inventory of uranium 235 at Indian Point
Nuclear regulators want updated inventory of uranium 235 at Indian Point
By GREG CLARYTHE JOURNAL NEWS
(Original publication: July 24, 2007)
BUCHANAN - Federal nuclear regulators are requiring Indian Point officials to open a nearly 20-year-old storage container for radioactive parts to verify that a tiny quantity of uranium 235 is accounted for properly.
The unstable form of uranium can and has been used to make atomic bombs, though Nuclear Regulatory Commission and Indian Point officials said the amounts in question at the nuclear plant are many thousands of times too small to make a bomb.
Still, the NRC wants to make sure it knows the exact locations and quantities of all the radioactive material under its control.
"We're especially concerned about any material that's in a spent fuel pool," NRC spokesman Neil Sheehan said. "This material needs to be tightly controlled."
The NRC has not cited Indian Point on this issue and Sheehan said the agency would wait until the container is opened next month before deciding on possible enforcement.
"These containers are supposed to be opened on an annual basis, unless they have a tamper-resistant seal," Sheehan said. "We wouldn't be looking at this if this weren't part of the regulation. They should have done a better job of maintaining records of what they had in the pool."
Jim Steets, a spokesman for Entergy Nuclear Northeast, which owns Indian Point, said there are eight used detectors, in 2- to 3-foot sections, located in a bolted container in the spent fuel pool of Indian Point 3.
The rods are part of old mechanisms used by the previous owners to check the power levels of the nuclear reactor.
Steets said the 32 parts contain 8/10,000s of a gram of uranium 235 each. Combined, they make .025 percent of a gram.
According to the Web site "The Nuclear Weapon Archive," (nuclearweaponarchive.org), the atomic bomb dropped at Hiroshima on Aug. 8, 1945, and known as "Little Boy," used 700 grams of uranium 235 in nuclear fission, to create an explosion equivalent to 15,000 tons of TNT dynamite.
Since the storage container predated the company and was bolted shut, company officials believed it didn't need to be opened as part of their annual inspection of the pool, Steets said. NRC records indicate that the container was filled in 1988-89.
Steets said company officials only recently learned that the NRC expected containers such as this one to be inspected because though the container is bolted, it is not completely tamper-resistant.
Because of the small amount of uranium 235 and the complex process of opening the container, the company opted to check the contents during its annual inspection next month.
NRC officials approved that schedule, Sheehan said, because of the danger of working in the spent fuel pool and the need for proper equipment and expertise, which agency officials said sometimes takes time to bring in to the plant.
With the heightened level of public interest in Indian Point since workers there discovered radioactive tritium and strontium 90 leaks, NRC officials have been notifying local and federal elected representatives of all developments at the nuclear plant.
Rep. Nita Lowey, D-Harrison, has been trying to get the plant closed down for years and is fighting its relicensing application. She said the latest development is a result of poor management of the plant.
"At a time when intelligence indicates security risks are at critical high, we can't afford to have loosey-goosey security measures at nuclear power plants located in the most densely populated areas of the country," Lowey said. "The incompetence at Indian Point imperils an entire region and absolutely requires that the plant be shut down."
Reach Greg Clary at 914-696-8566 or gclary@lohud.com.
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If I were working as a Lowey press agent, or as an anti Indian Point press flack, here's how I might proceed. First off, I would make sure not a day went by without some Indian Point "news" getting put out. If I had two concurrent stories about IPEC, I'd hold one back a few days, so as to get the annoying repeat rythm going, (and not get Lowey confused.) Next, after having seeded a steady drip, drip, drip of anti-IPEC faux "news" I could now point to the "Problem Plagued history" of IPEC...... pointing to the exact stuff I myself had exaggerated, and planted, as supposed proof of some "fact" (actually a factoid) that existed only within my PR campaign's wish list. So the technique is 1) Plant Indian Point stuff.....2) Refer back to the planted stuff. To those unfocused multitaskers among the public at large who are not really paying attention, it might seem that something is going on, in realtime. In actuality, its not. Its just Gannett & some pol, plus a few obedient letters-to-editors ringers, would be plastering up a papier mache' world where Indian Point is "Troubled". Note this fact: Indian Point is only "Troubled" (if at all) only by malicious, over-hyped exaggerated nonsense, taken up by second-rate politikoes in lieue of ever having a thought in their head, or some notion of what is to be done by their offices. So that's what a paid flack would do. When we see activities closely resembling such flackery, are we to ignore the prima facia evidence? Are we to blindly trust Lowey, Gannett, and nutball activist blogwacks to have something to offer us? (After all, the stature of even a Gannett newspaper is based on some authority, an internal ethical guideline, and the hope that the editorial board isn't being steered by some backroom political wheeler dealer). NRC will issue many directives to IPEC, not a single one of which is true news. It's an ongoing process. It doesn't need a Nita Lowey Shakespeare-inspired sincerity-byte to tell us "In these days of heightened public concern, with dangers assailing us from up, down and sideways, it is with great sobbing regret and smarmy anticipation that I reiterate..... Indian Point MUST EMPTY ITS TRASHCANS PROMPTLY OR HEAR FROM ME!" Indian Point is living up to all it's varied commitments without Reverend Nita, or Reverend Andy preaching a single syllable, and everybody knows it. You get power. You get silence on the Hudson. You get clean air. You get no blackouts.No smoke. No soot. No filthy coal trains or oil truck caravans. No burnt hydrocarbon haze, or stink.You get a pure clean fish-producing Hudson. You get lots of taxes and salaries. You get a hopeful, livable future. You get low crime, high pride, and a viable middle class existence, all (in part) because Indian Point is pulling its own weight (and some of yours, too). You get intelligent, well trained workers & citizens, contributing as volunteer firemen, EMT's, coaches, soldiers, church deacons & volunteer teachers. From Lowey ....what have you gotten, really? Acting lessons? Attempts to fool you? Confused anti middle class bumbling? From Spano...... what are you getting? Lots of days on the golf links? No flood plan? No immigration policy? The world's highest taxes anywhere? Trips to China? Cynicism? Bullshit? No caps on sprawl? Union busting? No plans for a decent road system? Riots in Ossining? Riots in New Rochelle? Murders in Yonkers? People thrown out third floor windows in Peekskill? Murder in the Galleria? $270,000 policemen? A bankrupt dysfunctional white elephant hospital? Cronyism? Capelli Towers? Bent-nose no-bid contracts? Arrogant uneducated backroom misunderstanding of the peoples' true aspirations & needs? Stupid lawsuits for show only? "Scientific" studies so worthless, they had to be immediately buried and hidden? (Lowey, too). Guess who's paying for all that...... You are. We can only hope that Mr. Clary, and the entire TJN editorial board, maintain their impartiality, or if they wish to be partial, be partial to the people. There's a cartoon at : https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEganSefFvwhF0D4qOZCLMrpO6XGPA8FuityH20oKU9HN0OaTbF1j7XdWeYarY_VxbFBhf9Atd3VznW1d6K0HX41XGwNdfCwT6ktXdYFzDsn-cTR4QcydmFa5zMtdqz6PNV73es1caCfqEA/s1600-h/sharkdance.jpg showing White Plains as a closed stockade.... "Fort Spano", with TJN, and Spano on the inside, and the unlucky denizens of Westchester on the outside. I can only hope that it ain't so. If it IS so, it ought to NOT be so. If Lowey, or Spano are truly without a clue, TJN ought to be complaining about it. Not covering up for them. Certainly not flacking for them.
Posted by: VP_VP on Tue Jul 24, 2007 12:38 pm
Lowey's overt stupidity is an embarrassment to our entire region.
Posted by: RPF on Tue Jul 24, 2007 8:04 am
Dear "Ball" , you are just copying my style, and very incompetently, I might add. I am not "Trying" to do or say anything. What I AM telling Mr. Clary (and not you) is that the article subject matter is a solved problem, trivial when it first came up, a simple regulatory request for updated inventory, and does not warrant being called "news". There are any number of such requests on a constant basis, and all of them are routine regulator-operator interchanges. The reason Ms. Lowey gets in on the act is obvious--- to try to look "relevant", and get her name in print, post-Kashiwazaki. The reason Mr. Clary would accommodate her in this is less clear. My intent was to alert him that he may be getting wagged, and nutball activists may be the dog. There,... get it now? Doesn't that make you feel better?
Posted by: VP_VP on Tue Jul 24, 2007 7:55 am
"dim bulb Lowey"...." ( too much information )"..."hysterical faux "news" stories"..."non existing Entergy incompetency"... "mewling and shrieking"..."Green Nuclear Butterfly"..."Nuke dive"..."decaying nuke plant"..."yellow politics/yellow journalistic"..."clueless old windbag".... What the heck is this Indian Point advocate "V P" Trying to say ? PLUTONIUM IS FOREVER!Posted by: ball on Tue Jul 24, 2007 7:34 am
Hmmm. Are you the President of Whole Foods?
Posted by: ed on Tue Jul 24, 2007 4:37 am
By GREG CLARYTHE JOURNAL NEWS
(Original publication: July 24, 2007)
BUCHANAN - Federal nuclear regulators are requiring Indian Point officials to open a nearly 20-year-old storage container for radioactive parts to verify that a tiny quantity of uranium 235 is accounted for properly.
The unstable form of uranium can and has been used to make atomic bombs, though Nuclear Regulatory Commission and Indian Point officials said the amounts in question at the nuclear plant are many thousands of times too small to make a bomb.
Still, the NRC wants to make sure it knows the exact locations and quantities of all the radioactive material under its control.
"We're especially concerned about any material that's in a spent fuel pool," NRC spokesman Neil Sheehan said. "This material needs to be tightly controlled."
The NRC has not cited Indian Point on this issue and Sheehan said the agency would wait until the container is opened next month before deciding on possible enforcement.
"These containers are supposed to be opened on an annual basis, unless they have a tamper-resistant seal," Sheehan said. "We wouldn't be looking at this if this weren't part of the regulation. They should have done a better job of maintaining records of what they had in the pool."
Jim Steets, a spokesman for Entergy Nuclear Northeast, which owns Indian Point, said there are eight used detectors, in 2- to 3-foot sections, located in a bolted container in the spent fuel pool of Indian Point 3.
The rods are part of old mechanisms used by the previous owners to check the power levels of the nuclear reactor.
Steets said the 32 parts contain 8/10,000s of a gram of uranium 235 each. Combined, they make .025 percent of a gram.
According to the Web site "The Nuclear Weapon Archive," (nuclearweaponarchive.org), the atomic bomb dropped at Hiroshima on Aug. 8, 1945, and known as "Little Boy," used 700 grams of uranium 235 in nuclear fission, to create an explosion equivalent to 15,000 tons of TNT dynamite.
Since the storage container predated the company and was bolted shut, company officials believed it didn't need to be opened as part of their annual inspection of the pool, Steets said. NRC records indicate that the container was filled in 1988-89.
Steets said company officials only recently learned that the NRC expected containers such as this one to be inspected because though the container is bolted, it is not completely tamper-resistant.
Because of the small amount of uranium 235 and the complex process of opening the container, the company opted to check the contents during its annual inspection next month.
NRC officials approved that schedule, Sheehan said, because of the danger of working in the spent fuel pool and the need for proper equipment and expertise, which agency officials said sometimes takes time to bring in to the plant.
With the heightened level of public interest in Indian Point since workers there discovered radioactive tritium and strontium 90 leaks, NRC officials have been notifying local and federal elected representatives of all developments at the nuclear plant.
Rep. Nita Lowey, D-Harrison, has been trying to get the plant closed down for years and is fighting its relicensing application. She said the latest development is a result of poor management of the plant.
"At a time when intelligence indicates security risks are at critical high, we can't afford to have loosey-goosey security measures at nuclear power plants located in the most densely populated areas of the country," Lowey said. "The incompetence at Indian Point imperils an entire region and absolutely requires that the plant be shut down."
Reach Greg Clary at 914-696-8566 or gclary@lohud.com.
Post a Comment View All Comments
If I were working as a Lowey press agent, or as an anti Indian Point press flack, here's how I might proceed. First off, I would make sure not a day went by without some Indian Point "news" getting put out. If I had two concurrent stories about IPEC, I'd hold one back a few days, so as to get the annoying repeat rythm going, (and not get Lowey confused.) Next, after having seeded a steady drip, drip, drip of anti-IPEC faux "news" I could now point to the "Problem Plagued history" of IPEC...... pointing to the exact stuff I myself had exaggerated, and planted, as supposed proof of some "fact" (actually a factoid) that existed only within my PR campaign's wish list. So the technique is 1) Plant Indian Point stuff.....2) Refer back to the planted stuff. To those unfocused multitaskers among the public at large who are not really paying attention, it might seem that something is going on, in realtime. In actuality, its not. Its just Gannett & some pol, plus a few obedient letters-to-editors ringers, would be plastering up a papier mache' world where Indian Point is "Troubled". Note this fact: Indian Point is only "Troubled" (if at all) only by malicious, over-hyped exaggerated nonsense, taken up by second-rate politikoes in lieue of ever having a thought in their head, or some notion of what is to be done by their offices. So that's what a paid flack would do. When we see activities closely resembling such flackery, are we to ignore the prima facia evidence? Are we to blindly trust Lowey, Gannett, and nutball activist blogwacks to have something to offer us? (After all, the stature of even a Gannett newspaper is based on some authority, an internal ethical guideline, and the hope that the editorial board isn't being steered by some backroom political wheeler dealer). NRC will issue many directives to IPEC, not a single one of which is true news. It's an ongoing process. It doesn't need a Nita Lowey Shakespeare-inspired sincerity-byte to tell us "In these days of heightened public concern, with dangers assailing us from up, down and sideways, it is with great sobbing regret and smarmy anticipation that I reiterate..... Indian Point MUST EMPTY ITS TRASHCANS PROMPTLY OR HEAR FROM ME!" Indian Point is living up to all it's varied commitments without Reverend Nita, or Reverend Andy preaching a single syllable, and everybody knows it. You get power. You get silence on the Hudson. You get clean air. You get no blackouts.No smoke. No soot. No filthy coal trains or oil truck caravans. No burnt hydrocarbon haze, or stink.You get a pure clean fish-producing Hudson. You get lots of taxes and salaries. You get a hopeful, livable future. You get low crime, high pride, and a viable middle class existence, all (in part) because Indian Point is pulling its own weight (and some of yours, too). You get intelligent, well trained workers & citizens, contributing as volunteer firemen, EMT's, coaches, soldiers, church deacons & volunteer teachers. From Lowey ....what have you gotten, really? Acting lessons? Attempts to fool you? Confused anti middle class bumbling? From Spano...... what are you getting? Lots of days on the golf links? No flood plan? No immigration policy? The world's highest taxes anywhere? Trips to China? Cynicism? Bullshit? No caps on sprawl? Union busting? No plans for a decent road system? Riots in Ossining? Riots in New Rochelle? Murders in Yonkers? People thrown out third floor windows in Peekskill? Murder in the Galleria? $270,000 policemen? A bankrupt dysfunctional white elephant hospital? Cronyism? Capelli Towers? Bent-nose no-bid contracts? Arrogant uneducated backroom misunderstanding of the peoples' true aspirations & needs? Stupid lawsuits for show only? "Scientific" studies so worthless, they had to be immediately buried and hidden? (Lowey, too). Guess who's paying for all that...... You are. We can only hope that Mr. Clary, and the entire TJN editorial board, maintain their impartiality, or if they wish to be partial, be partial to the people. There's a cartoon at : https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEganSefFvwhF0D4qOZCLMrpO6XGPA8FuityH20oKU9HN0OaTbF1j7XdWeYarY_VxbFBhf9Atd3VznW1d6K0HX41XGwNdfCwT6ktXdYFzDsn-cTR4QcydmFa5zMtdqz6PNV73es1caCfqEA/s1600-h/sharkdance.jpg showing White Plains as a closed stockade.... "Fort Spano", with TJN, and Spano on the inside, and the unlucky denizens of Westchester on the outside. I can only hope that it ain't so. If it IS so, it ought to NOT be so. If Lowey, or Spano are truly without a clue, TJN ought to be complaining about it. Not covering up for them. Certainly not flacking for them.
Posted by: VP_VP on Tue Jul 24, 2007 12:38 pm
Lowey's overt stupidity is an embarrassment to our entire region.
Posted by: RPF on Tue Jul 24, 2007 8:04 am
Dear "Ball" , you are just copying my style, and very incompetently, I might add. I am not "Trying" to do or say anything. What I AM telling Mr. Clary (and not you) is that the article subject matter is a solved problem, trivial when it first came up, a simple regulatory request for updated inventory, and does not warrant being called "news". There are any number of such requests on a constant basis, and all of them are routine regulator-operator interchanges. The reason Ms. Lowey gets in on the act is obvious--- to try to look "relevant", and get her name in print, post-Kashiwazaki. The reason Mr. Clary would accommodate her in this is less clear. My intent was to alert him that he may be getting wagged, and nutball activists may be the dog. There,... get it now? Doesn't that make you feel better?
Posted by: VP_VP on Tue Jul 24, 2007 7:55 am
"dim bulb Lowey"...." ( too much information )"..."hysterical faux "news" stories"..."non existing Entergy incompetency"... "mewling and shrieking"..."Green Nuclear Butterfly"..."Nuke dive"..."decaying nuke plant"..."yellow politics/yellow journalistic"..."clueless old windbag".... What the heck is this Indian Point advocate "V P" Trying to say ? PLUTONIUM IS FOREVER!Posted by: ball on Tue Jul 24, 2007 7:34 am
Hmmm. Are you the President of Whole Foods?
Posted by: ed on Tue Jul 24, 2007 4:37 am
Monday, July 23, 2007
FAA flap shows need to plan ahead
FAA flap shows need to plan ahead
Political pressure and big talking will take you a good distance in this world. As we've seen with the current Federal Aviation Administration issue, the ability of our elected officials to assert themselves and use their resources in government to get things done can not be underestimated. What our leaders have yet to prove though is their ability to plan ahead. If County Executive C. Scott Vanderhoef's office knew about this plan some time ago, why didn't U.S. Rep. Eliot Engel know? Where were Sens. Charles Schumer and Hillary Clinton? Many thanks for the scramble to get at least one meeting together in Rockland, but where do we go from here?
A small suggestion for the folks in Washington, Albany, and New City: begin to plan ahead. If the FAA's plan goes through as is, what will be done?
Rep. Engel, begin working on energy/environment legislation that will deal with air quality issues related to airplanes and overall air quality.
Rep. Nita Lowey, Sens. Schumer and Clinton, keep pressing Congress for more homeland security funds (more planes near Indian Point and the Palisades Center concerns me; how about you?)
State Assemblyman Kenneth Zebrowski, state Ellen Assemblywoman Jaffee, will Albany give us funds to figure out how the decreased air quality and the increased noise pollution will affect our state parks and wildlife?
I hope those that those we elected don't have their feet up on their desks. I hope they're running around getting things done --time is running out.
Joshua Suchoff
New City
Political pressure and big talking will take you a good distance in this world. As we've seen with the current Federal Aviation Administration issue, the ability of our elected officials to assert themselves and use their resources in government to get things done can not be underestimated. What our leaders have yet to prove though is their ability to plan ahead. If County Executive C. Scott Vanderhoef's office knew about this plan some time ago, why didn't U.S. Rep. Eliot Engel know? Where were Sens. Charles Schumer and Hillary Clinton? Many thanks for the scramble to get at least one meeting together in Rockland, but where do we go from here?
A small suggestion for the folks in Washington, Albany, and New City: begin to plan ahead. If the FAA's plan goes through as is, what will be done?
Rep. Engel, begin working on energy/environment legislation that will deal with air quality issues related to airplanes and overall air quality.
Rep. Nita Lowey, Sens. Schumer and Clinton, keep pressing Congress for more homeland security funds (more planes near Indian Point and the Palisades Center concerns me; how about you?)
State Assemblyman Kenneth Zebrowski, state Ellen Assemblywoman Jaffee, will Albany give us funds to figure out how the decreased air quality and the increased noise pollution will affect our state parks and wildlife?
I hope those that those we elected don't have their feet up on their desks. I hope they're running around getting things done --time is running out.
Joshua Suchoff
New City
Higher second-quarter earnings expected at Entergy Nuclear
Higher second-quarter earnings expected at Entergy Nuclear
Washington (Platts)--19Jul2007Higher earnings are expected at Entergy Nuclear in the second quarter
than a year ago, parent Entergy Corp. said July 19 in releasing preliminary
earnings guidance.
The increase is mainly due to higher revenue because of higher energy
pricing and additional available production from Palisades, Entergy said.
Entergy completed the acquisition of the 845-MW PWR from Consumers Energy on
April 11. Partially offsetting these contributions was the effect on revenues
of two refueling outages during the quarter (compared to one the same period
last year) and an extended unplanned outage at Indian Point-3, Entergy said.
Operation and maintenance expenses were also higher than in second-quarter
2006, Entergy said.
Entergy Nuclear, the company's merchant nuclear subsidiary, operates six
nuclear units. Entergy Nuclear also manages Cooper for the Nebraska Public
Power District. Results from Entergy's five regulated reactors are included in
the company's "Utility, Parent & Other" business unit. Entergy said that
business unit's operational results are expected to be lower mainly because of
higher expenses for operation and maintenance, interest and income tax.
Washington (Platts)--19Jul2007Higher earnings are expected at Entergy Nuclear in the second quarter
than a year ago, parent Entergy Corp. said July 19 in releasing preliminary
earnings guidance.
The increase is mainly due to higher revenue because of higher energy
pricing and additional available production from Palisades, Entergy said.
Entergy completed the acquisition of the 845-MW PWR from Consumers Energy on
April 11. Partially offsetting these contributions was the effect on revenues
of two refueling outages during the quarter (compared to one the same period
last year) and an extended unplanned outage at Indian Point-3, Entergy said.
Operation and maintenance expenses were also higher than in second-quarter
2006, Entergy said.
Entergy Nuclear, the company's merchant nuclear subsidiary, operates six
nuclear units. Entergy Nuclear also manages Cooper for the Nebraska Public
Power District. Results from Entergy's five regulated reactors are included in
the company's "Utility, Parent & Other" business unit. Entergy said that
business unit's operational results are expected to be lower mainly because of
higher expenses for operation and maintenance, interest and income tax.
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