Posted on 07/15/2004 11:59:34 AM PDT by presidio9
A coalition of organizations seeking the shutdown of the Indian Point nuclear power plants said Wednesday that a new plan for storing radioactive waste on the site creates "another bull's-eye on the Hudson River."
"They're just adding to the risk" of contamination from an accident or attack at the plants, said Kyle Rabin, a policy analyst for Riverkeeper, one of the organizations in the Indian Point Safe Energy Coalition. "They say they're doing what we're asking but they're not."
A spokesman for Entergy Nuclear Northeast, owner of the plants in Buchanan, defended the plan. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is holding a public meeting in Peekskill on Thursday night to discuss it.
Entergy plans to move some of the 12-foot-long rods of spent fuel that are now kept in pools and embed them in stainless steel and concrete containers. These "dry casks" would then be held on a concrete platform about the size of a football field.
Though opponents have said in the past that dry casks are safer than the pools, they pointed out at Wednesday's news conference that the casks at Indian Point would not replace the pools but supplement them, allowing Entergy to put more spent fuel into the pools, now crowded with over 1,400 tons of waste.
They also criticized the brand of cask being used, saying questions had been raised about its durability, and they criticized the absence of earthen berms that could protect the casks. They said that while the NRC describes the casking as a "temporary storage solution," a court decision on Friday raised doubts about when permanent storage -- inside Yucca Mountain in Nevada -- would be available.
They said the best way to minimize the risk of radiation from spent fuel was to close down the two reactors, thereby ending the production of spent fuel.
"There's no good way to deal with something that's so toxic for so long," said Marilyn Elie of the Westchester Citizens Awareness Network.
Entergy spokesman Jim Steets acknowledged that "The point is not to reduce the volume in the pools but to make room so we can add new fuel." But he said the casks "will provide safe and secure storage regardless of when Yucca Mountain can begin to receive spent fuel."
He defended the safety and reliability of dry cask storage, saying it "meets all the NRC requirements and addresses all the issues associated with safety and security, including those concerns raised post-9/11."
They shut down the Shoreham nuclear plant in Long Island . . .
They halted the plan to run a new Tenneco gas pipeline under Westchester County . . .
They've managed to keep the cross-Sound cable between Connecticut and Long Island out of service . . .
They strong-armed Hydro-Quebec in an attempt to halt the development of major hydro-electric plants in the Ungava region of Quebec . . .
Now they want to shut down Indian Point, too.
And New Yorkers wonder why their utility rates are so high, and why the entire New York City region gets blacked out by a malfunction in the Ohio power system?
80% of that electricity is shipped out-of-state
and has absolutely NOTHING to do with the prices of power in the New York Metro area
Can you name a safer, cheaper, more practical energy source for the NYC area? Can you outline what specific threats Indian Point might face and what the outcome of such threats might be? Indian Point hysterics are nothing more than anti-nuclear propaganda on the part of wealth-reditributing greens.
You're going to have to explain this to me. Indian Point power is shipped out of state, and New York imports its power from elsewhere?
Camp Smith, a US Army camp nearby, is more likely to be a target.
Besides, the local communist rag, The Times Herald record, did an 'expose' article on how the airspace over the reactor complex is uncontrolled.
What the 'investigative reporters' failed to state was that they had asked for permission to fly over the reactors and since they are presstitutes, they got permission to fly over the area.
Their article stated how they had flown over the reactors 'for two hours without being challeneged once.'
So it's interesting that the AP, roughly 2 1/2 years later, parrots the crap that the local communist rag said.
(The reactor is a target, are you afraid yet? Fear, I command you!)
Criopes I hated doing drill near there.
M-60 weapons qualification at Camp Smith's range was always fun.
'Xactly.
AND the SCADA networks that control the northeast tier of US power generation and distribution were hacked and uncontrolled for roughly 12 r 18 hours back in early 2001.
Poor Planning and Practices.
i never said IP wasn't safe or impractical or that it faced threats - according to the owners of IP it provides 23% of area's needs - it generates 4.8 million kilowatts and sells 3.9 million kilowatts to customers outside its retail service area - link to owners of IP below
http://www.safesecurevital.org/entergy/
according to the owners of IP, yes - i could be mistaken, but i thought NY recvd most of its energy from hydro ssources in Quebec?
http://www.safesecurevital.org/entergy/
Ahhhh.. I can see it now (long toke of peyote....)
Ahhhh....a couple of VERY smart terrorists leap the fence at Indian Point, dodge/run to the casks, pull out their box-cutters, and spill NUCLEAR DESTRUCTION over millions of NYers, right?
No?? OK, try this. Same opening scenes, except the terrorists use soda-bottle bombs to SPRAY nuclear death over millions of NYers.
Well, then how about they....they....ABDUCT the dry casks, placing them on the backs of their trusty camels, and hot-foot it to Central Park West, then dumping the load, trailing NUCLEAR DEATH behind them for millions of NYers.
NO??
You don't think any of these scenarios is possible?
Then you fail the Time Magazine Reporter Test.
Try the Washington Times, bud.
this links to all sorts of pretty charts and facts that explain where NY's energy comes from - i think - it's rather confusing - and for the record i have NO problem with Indian Point and I live in NYC -
http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/electricity/st_profiles/new_york/ny.html
Now THERE'S a problem which we can only hope that Homeland Security addressed. SCADA code is not common, but was never secure--when invented (and up until 9/11) nobody figured anybody would really CARE about this stuff.
But SCADA also controls the pipeline flow of refined petroleum and natural gas all over the Midwest.
More important, IMHO, than body-scanning grannies at Orlando Airport.
Entergy owns other nuclear plants. The 4.8 million kilowatt total includes those other plants as well as Indian Point. According to the cited web site, Indian Point is 2.0 million kilowatts.
OK, say they shut down electricity production tomorrow. What are they going to do with all of the fuel that is already there? What are they going to do with all of the fuel that is currently in the reactors? Is it going to be easier or harder to take care of all of this fuel after the only means of funding caring for this fuel is removed?
And finally, does in matter if a terrorist blows only 1240 metrit tons of fuel instead of 1280 metric tons?
Hopefully they're doing something about it rather than doing nothing, but if I know any PC Thug organisation this is NOT what they will do.
It might offend someone if they actually do something to make something more secure, you know.
*ugh!*
d'oh! now i'm blushing and feel like an idiot - mea culpa! mea culpa!
i was so proud of my new tagline and i had to ruin it by inserting my foot into my mouth
What are they using, Modbus, modbus+, Harris 5000, DNP 3.0, UCA ??? They do use synchro-phasors and realtime collection out there....
These people are nucking futs!
I used to work with one of these radicals. No, he didn't want us to buy even more oil from the islamofascists -- he just wanted us to, essentially, shut down our economy and stop using so much of the world's resources. Of course, he didn't want to hear that even though we do use more than "our fair share" (his words), we provide so much in the way of goods, service, commerce, charity, etc., to the rest of the world that we just wouldn't be able to continue doing if we were to stop using oil.
He then proceeded to inform that I couldn't discuss these issues with him, as he majored in some leftist off-shoot of environmental studies. I said: "Fine. Then you can't debate me on the economy, markets and business, in general. Not only do I have my undergrad degree in Economics, but also an MBA." :)
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