Once a Defender of Indian Point Plant, the State Pushes to Close It

[tpsbmam]

Source: New York Times

Now the struggle is playing out again. This time, however, New York State, which sold Indian Point 3 to Entergy Nuclear for $600 million in 2000, has joined Westchester County and other opponents in trying to persuade the Nuclear Regulatory Commission not to grant 20-year license extensions for the two operating reactors — Unit 3 and Unit 2, which Entergy bought from Consolidated Edison in 2001.

New York is the first state to formally oppose the relicensing of a nuclear power plant, and officials say there are two main reasons for taking that position: On Sept. 11, 2001, American Airlines Flight 11, which slammed into the north tower of the World Trade Center, and United Airlines Flight 175, which hit the south tower, flew along the Hudson River and crossed it just north of Indian Point.

“New Yorkers know all too well that the threat of terrorism is real,” Mylan L. Denerstein, the state’s executive deputy attorney general for social justice, said in an opening statement at a hearing convened on March 10 by a three-judge panel that will make a recommendation to the full regulatory agency.

Those who support relicensing the plants say that the risk of an attack must be weighed against the more likely possibility of higher energy prices, electricity shortages and increased air pollution if the plant were to close.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/18/nyregion/18indian.htm...

[Heywood J]

1. Technically, under that logic, all skyscrapers in NYC

should be dismantled because they could be hit by terrorism. Taking that sort of logic to its ultimate conclusion, and all.

It'd just be cheaper and easier to armor the thing like a tank. Anything that's actually radioactive is contained in a relatively small volume. No point in taking it offline until you have something else to substitute in its place.

[WhiteTara]

6. technically, skyscrapers aren't full of radiation

so that argument's a bit weak

[Heywood J]

7. The argument was made that it should be closed

because it could be targeted for terrorism, not because it contained radiation.

Technically, skyscrapers contain asbestos, PCBs, etc. Just as bad, ask the WTC rescue workers and the people who had to do cleanup.

[pitohui]

8. of course we don't have the technology to "armor" a nuclear power plant aga. a commercial airliner

this threat has been studied for years, ever since extortionists threatened to fly a southern airways commercial airliner into a nuclear plant in the south unless they were paid $3 million dollars (big money in those days, which were i believe, around 1982)

nuclear power plants can be hardened aga. small private planes but not aga. commercial airliners, so it's a real security leak and it isn't just new yorkers who are threatened

i'm always amazed at how quickly people are to post and speak up who have no knowledge of what they're talking about, the nuclear regulatory agency itself has admitted that the containment buildings can't be made strong enough to protect aga. a commercial jetliner being crashed into them

much discussion of this in public, after 911, as well as after the earlier incident, so it isn't like some secret knowledge you couldn't be expected to know before you posted that it was cheap and easy to armor a nuclear power plant "like a tank"

i would respectfully suggest that if people don't know what they're posting about, don't make shit up

[defendandprotect]

11. Well, skyscrapers with nuclear power plants in them, I guess . . ..

[OneBlueSky]

2. just as a sidebar, I think I remember reading that Entergy's profit last year . . .

from the Indian Point plant alone was over $1 billion . . .

[davepc]

3. I grew up in the shadow of Indian Point, and I think closining it is stupuid

Test the air quality around a coal plant, and a nuclear plant then tell me which one is "safer".

France generates over 70% of their energy from nuclear power is a net EXPORTER of energy to the rest of the EU.

Nuclear power is not a bad thing.

[NickB79]

5. Best-case scenario, they'll replace it with a mix of wind and natural gas

But even then, the increased CO2 emissions of the natural gas plants will contribute to global warming.

[ConcernedCanuk]

4. I remember reading that about the "terrorists" passing up the chance to hit the nuclear plant.

.
.
.

Makes me even more convinced of the MIHOP thing.

If the AlCIAda group from Saudi Arabia had concentrated their "act" on that nuke plant,

Combined with the 3-mile Island incident

Nuclear power stations would be not on the agenda

Sadly, now they are

People forget

[pitohui]

10. it isn't impossible that united 93 was heading for three mile island

it was only minutes away when it crashed

the terrorists were going for famous places, the twin towers, the pentagon, perhaps 3mi was a more logical and famous target than indian point if you're a foreigner

the claim that ua93 was headed for the white house (it wasn't even close) has always seemed pretty obviously a claim made to protect the nuclear powerful industry to me, it's far more logical that ua 93 was aimed exactly where it was going

[OKthatsIT]

12. It's too close to the coast and it sits on top of Arapaho Fault

And it old.

[Blue_Tires]

9. in that case, it makes me wonder why

the terrorists didn't initially consider the plant as a target instead...