Opponents of Indian Point fire questions at NRC

Opponents of Indian Point fire questions at NRC
By GREG CLARYTHE JOURNAL NEWS
(Original publication: June 28, 2007)
CORTLANDT - If yesterday's Nuclear Regulatory Commission public meetings are any indication, Indian Point's bid to operate for an extra 20 years will bring plenty of detailed debate in the agency review that will take two years to complete.
At informational sessions in a catering hall next to Cortlandt Town Hall, opponents of the nuclear plants lined up to fire questions at the NRC that dealt little with the relicensing protocol the agency was there to publicize.
"The NRC has a big job to do," said Cortlandt resident Karl Jacobs, a mechanical engineer who said he reviewed the nuclear plants' license renewal application in detail. "I want Entergy to realize that there are people out there who are very knowledgeable about this plant."
The questions and comments of Jacobs and others weren't general. In some cases, speakers brought up regulatory specifics and details about the plants themselves that NRC relicensing staff said they needed to research further.
Indian Point's owner, Entergy Nuclear Northeast, has applied for license extensions for the two working plants that would allow the company to continue producing electricity until 2035.
A flashpoint of controversy for years, especially after the 2001 terrorist attacks in New York City, Indian Point has been dealing since 2005 with radiation leaks at the plant, problems with warning sirens throughout the 10-mile evacuation zone and a rash of unplanned shutdowns.
Without the 20-year extension, Indian Point 2 would have to close in 2013 and Indian Point 3 in 2015.
Yesterday's meetings were supposed to focus on the NRC's relicensing procedures, but after half-hour presentations by agency staffers at afternoon and evening sessions, audience members pushed for everything from more public involvement to tossing the application altogether.
"The same rules that apply in the current operation will apply during the license extension," said Bo Pham, the NRC's project manager for Indian Point's relicensing application. "There will have to be mitigation of issues we consider significant."
NRC officials noted that the application Entergy submitted April 30 has not finished a prescreening and thus has not been officially accepted. That normally occurs within 45-60 days, officials have said.
Pham acknowledged in response to one resident's question that the agency has not turned down any of the license renewal applications it has accepted. One application was not accepted because it was "fraught with errors."
Nearly half of the 104 plants overseen by the NRC have received approval to continuing producing electricity for an additional 20 years.
Indian Point had plenty of supporters among the hundreds of people at the meeting, as well as organizations that backed its efforts to extend its license in prepared statements.
The Coalition of Labor for Energy Jobs - Boilermakers Local 5, Millwrights and Machine Erectors Local 740 and Utility Workers 1-2 - were joined by members of the Carpenters Union and the Teamsters International in announcing their support for Indian Point, noting that the remarks coincided with an estimated 350,000 New York City residents enduring a power outage.
"We have to look at the greater picture for New York, that the Indian Point facility employs hundreds of highly skilled professionals and contributes more than $750 million annually to the downstate economy," said Jerry Connolly, a spokesman for the group.
Reach Greg Clary at gclary@lohud.com or 914-696-8566.
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These meetings may be the rope that the anti-Indian Point cadre will ultimately hang itself with. At least in the public eye, that is. I heard a lot of demands for specific but irrelevant information, none of which the NRC had on hand. The antis knew they wouldn't; the NRC wasn't there to address issues like greenhouse gases from the nuclear fuel cycle, or Strontium 90 in fish bones (here come the baby teeth again), so there were many smug faces among the cadre when the NRC confessed that they weren't prepared to discuss those issues. However, that doesn't mean that the NRC doesn't have an answer already. The whole dog and pony show allowed a few celebrities of the cause to get up and publicly recite their mantra yet again, and that was the purpose of their request for a separate hearing. It's just another venue to publicize themselves, since the media and the public at large seems to either disagree with them at worst, or are simply apathetic. Later on, many of the anti’s claims and concerns will have to face the light of day, and will be addressed. They will be answered and most likely categorically refuted. One lady, after expressing her allegiance to the many Union workers present, also expressed concern for the future of the healthy newborn infant that she helped deliver as a midwife in the shadow of Indian Point. I thought this was odd that she would be concerned, given that the health threat to a newborn from radiation exposure (assuming that there is any) occurs in the first trimester of the pregnancy. She, as a midwife, certainly knew this. It was another example of how the anti movement uses drama bordering on farce, and broaches complex discussions (like nuclear-fuel cycle greenhouse emissions) without fully understanding their own questions, in an attempt to agitate a public that is not as gullible or paranoid as they wish it to be.
Posted by: SPQR on Thu Jun 28, 2007 7:06 am


The furious networking that I've monitored over the last few weeks among the small but vocal "anti" cadre, is a marvel of self organization, dedication, mutual cross-briefing in what issues to raise, and resulted in the entire cadre showing up for the NRC meeting last night. The fact that you can fit the entire anti nuke "army" in a single room (albeit in two sessions) is a very telling fact. There are not many of them. I once saw a Journal News article listing about 60 "holdout" activists, mainly older people, left over from the 60's & 70's peace movement, and now living in the Hud Valley. These semi-famous figures form a core, and a few organizers like Mark Jacobs of Longview school continue the emailing, the networking, the meetings at the Unitarian churches (partly as a civics lesson for his students).... resulting in the total count of around 300 people dedicated to shutting Indian Point down regardless, at any cost. That is who Greg Clary's story is about. That's a good story, actually! ...Think about it: "Handful of Dedicated Revolutionaries Attempts to Argue Away Region's Electrical Infrastructure" might be one title. Or another title: "300 Luddites Invade Informational Meeting to Harrass NRC". Essentially, a new shadow organization exists, which one might call the "NRC Camp Follower's Club". They only meet at NRC meetings, and pretend to speak for the 20,000,000 people who need Indian Point's services. They do not. They speak, at most, for the 33% minority who think negatively about these issues, and in fact, they speak absolutely, only for themselves. They do not speak for the 67% expressing positive inclinations toward keeping Indian Point running, and they do not speak about what way they intend to remake our society should this needed infrastructure be trashed. So what is their point? It seems their only point is to attend NRC meetings, and turn them into self-aggrandizement circuses, harrassing the dour, serious, responsible NRC staff with confounding questions, like pygmies shooting darts at some governmental elephant. A cynical revolutionary hootenanny, not even paying attention to the program NRC came there to reveal to the public. Unfortunately, because all the chairs were taken by the hootenanny attendees, the public never got to participate. My suggestion to NRC is to stop inciting these useless circuses, and simply take an ad in the New York Times, outlining their program.
Posted by: howard on Thu Jun 28, 2007 6:03 am