The Plant
There are three reactors at Indian Point, only numbers 2 and 3 are operating on-line.
The facility is located about 24 miles north of New York City, and is situated in the most densely populated region in the nation.
Indian Point 1 started operating in 1963 and was forced to shut down 11 years later due to a lack of emergency cooling.
Indian Point 2 and Indian Point 3 were approved and construction began in the 1960s. Indian Point 2 began operating in 1973, and Indian Point 3 followed two years later. Combined their capacity is 2,000 megawatts of energy.
The operating licenses for Indian Point 2 and 3 expire in 2013 and 2015 respectively.
Until recently, Indian Point 2 had the worst safety rating of all 103 reactors in the US.
Both reactors continue to be plagued with unscheduled shutdowns due to emergencies.
The spent fuel rods are stored on site in containment pool, which leaks gallons of radioactive water leaks regularly. Entergy is constructing dry cask for storing older spent fuel rods.
The sirens, which would be used in an evacuation, have been plagued with problems for years.
In April 2007, Entergy (owner and operator of Indian Point) filed for a 20 year license extension with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
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The Studies
CALCULATIONS OF REACTOR ACCIDENT CONSEQUENCES STUDY (CRAC-2)
This study was commissioned by the NRC in 1982 to evaluate the consequences of meltdowns at all working US reactors.
The study deemed a 17.5 mile radius around Indian Point as a "Peak Fatality Zone," and a 50 mile radius as a "Peak Injury Zone." (Nearly 21 million people live within this zone in NY, PA, NJ and CT)
A meltdown at Indian Point-2 would result in 46,000 near-term deaths and 141,000 near-term injuries.
A meltdown at Indian Point-3 would result in 50,000 near-term deaths and 167,000 near-term injuries.
A meltdown at either reactor would cause $500.5 billion worth of property damage in Westchester ALONE! Homeowner's insurance policies do not cover nuclear damage.
1997 BROOKHAVEN NATIONAL LAB STUDY
A disaster at the spent fuel facility could cause anywhere from 1,500 to 143,000 cancer deaths.
A spent fuel disaster could cause from $800 million to $560 billion in damage.
A spent fuel disaster could render as much as 2,700 square miles around the plant uninhabitable.
From NYPIRG
There's more, a lot more-- here:
http://www.nypirg.org/energy/indianpt.htmlpeace...