Experts: Leaks could turn NY's Indian Point nuclear power plant into Chernobyl-like disaster

New York Daily News ^ | Tuesday, October 18th 2011 | Douglas Feiden

[presidio9]

Manhattan and the Bronx would be uninhabitable if the accident-prone Indian Point nuke plant suffered a Chernobyl-like disaster, an environmental group charged Monday.

A massive radiation release similar to the 1986 catastrophe in Ukraine could also contaminate Brooklyn and chunks of Queens and Staten Island, according to a report by the Natural Resources Defense Council.

"The more you learn about Indian Point, the more you know it must close," said Robert Kennedy Jr., a senior attorney at NRDC. "It's too old, it's near too many people, and it's just too vulnerable to fire, earthquake and attack."

The doomsday scenario comes as political titans clash over the aging plant 24miles north of the city, which sits on an earthquake fault, and has been hit by radiation leaks and at least two fires since 2007.

Former Mayor Rudy Giuliani debuted a series of TV and print ads last week vouching for its safety and seeking to boost its public image - even as Gov. Cuomo crusades to padlock the plant, saying it poses a threat to public safety.

At issue is whether the feds should grant a 20-year renewal to New Orleans-based Entergy, the owner of Indian Point, which runs two active reactors whose operating licenses expire in 2013 and 2015.

Fueling the debate is the March 11 earthquake and tsunami that crippled the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant in Japan - and sparked fears a similar disaster at the Hudson River plant could make parts of New York unlivable.

"An accident at an Indian Point reactor on the scale of the recent catastrophe in Japan could cause a swath of land down to the George Washington Bridge to be uninhabitable for generations due to radiation contamination," NRDC says.

It could also require the sheltering or evacuation of up to 5.6 million New Yorkers, the report says.

Entergy vigorously defends its safety record and says its disaster planning is unparalleled.

The company said an earthquake paired with a tsunami couldn't happen at upriver Indian Point. It also said the primitive graphite reactor at Chernobyl had nothing in common with the multiple safeguards deployed at Indian Point.

"It's not valid to simply cut and paste from events that occurred somewhere else in the world and say they could happen here," said Entergy spokesman James Steets.

[JimRed]

“Accident prone”? How many accidents has it had to earn that designation?

(crickets)

[mountainlion]

American nukes are not the open swimming pool type that the Russians had. There is no similarity. Chernobyl was an extreme operator induced disaster. American nukes are hundreds of times more safe than Russian types.

[OldNavyVet]

Reading this brought Sacramento's Nuclear plant to mind.

It's gone now. It was about five to ten miles North of the Calfiornia capital.

[mountainlion]

I agree that Kennedys are accident prone.

[Pollster1]

Manhattan and the Bronx would be uninhabitable if the accident-prone Indian Point nuke plant suffered a Chernobyl-like disaster, an environmental group charged Monday.

Particularly with the Bronx, would anyone notice the difference?

[MrB]

Chernobyl was designed so that you could open the reactor while it was operating, this is essential for harvesting plutonium for H bombs.

Our power plants are just that - power plants. They don’t have the inherent risks that a bomb factory like Chernobyl had.

[bitterohiogunclinger]

“An accident at an Indian Point reactor on the scale of the recent catastrophe in Japan could cause a swath of land down to the George Washington Bridge to be uninhabitable for generations due to radiation contamination,” NRDC says.

If a 9.6 earthquake and tsunami hit NYC on the scale of the disaster in Japan, they would still be arguing over where to start rebuilding 30 years from now, and which unions get the payoffs. idiots.

[Psycho_Bunny]

Could....possibly....maybe.....flying monkeys.....my butt.....

[mountainlion]

American nuke plants have huge containment domes over them. A big plane can crash into them without damage. The domes have contained hydrogen explosions and contain radioactive leakage. Kennedy is of course a family liar.

[Kenny Bunk]

What a telling post!

Attention English Majors:
The Chernobyl Plant was built without a containment vessel, just a tin building with giant blocks of graphite as the moderator and safeguard. It was a very poor, crude, and unsafe design from the get go.

Its main purpose was the creation of weapons grade nuclear materials, electricity was a sideline. It was connected to weapons facilities by miles of tunnels.

The scariest thing about Chernobyl's cheap-jack construction, was that the Soviets were planning to build one just like it in Cuba!

There could be a nuclear accident at Indian Point, but it would be more like Three Mile Island than Chernobyl. (Hint: Nobody died at Three Mile Island, at the time it was said to be a whole lot safer than Chappaquiddick.)

[presidio9]

Particularly with the Bronx, would anyone notice the difference?

Preface by saying that I posted this story as an example of media bias.

The Bronx is an easy target for jokes, but there are actually several wonderful parts to it, including the New York Botanical Garden, the Zoo (rechristened by liberals the Wildlife Conservation Preserve, so that it sounds less fun to kids), Riverside Heights, Pelham Bay, Fordham University, Arthur Avenue (home of the real Little Italy), Woodlawn, Van Cortland Park, City Island, and... Yankee Stadium (home of the 27 time world champions). I'm a little defensive, because I went to school there.

[presidio9]

“An accident at an Indian Point reactor on the scale of the recent catastrophe in Japan could cause a swath of land down to the George Washington Bridge to be uninhabitable for generations due to radiation contamination,” NRDC says.

This was also my favorite part of this story. I was wondering just how high the wave would have to be over Manhattan to reach Indian Point with the force to take out the containment facility. Pretty high I bet.

[NormsRevenge]

If a Kennedy says it,, forget about it.

[Bender2]

Re: Manhattan and the Bronx would be uninhabitable if the accident-prone Indian Point nuke plant suffered a Chernobyl-like disaster...

Gadzooks, this also means Manhattan and the Bronx would be uninhabitable if the accident-prone Indian Point nuke plant... had Homer Simpson as an operator!

You realize, Captain, that Manhattan and the Bronx would be uninhabitable if the accident-prone Indian Point nuke plant... were blasted by the Enterprise using Photon torpedoes!

Manhattan and the Bronx would be uninhabitable if the accident-prone Indian Point nuke plant... had Bambi's mom's body fall into the reactor core after man entered the forest!

Ward, Manhattan and the Bronx would be uninhabitable if the accident-prone Indian Point nuke plant... operators were as hard on the reactor core as you were on Beaver last night!

Manhattan and the Bronx would be uninhabitable if the accident-prone Indian Point nuke plant.. was crush like a bug under a school bus when Global Warming causes a mile high glacier to move south from the North Pole!

Face, Manhattan and the Bronx would be uninhabitable if the accident-prone Indian Point nuke plant... blew up when my plan comes together!

Manhattan and the Bronx would be uninhabitable if the accident-prone Indian Point nuke plant.. if Obama allows Islamic terrorists to build a Mosque next to the reactor core!

Manhattan and the Bronx would be uninhabitable if the accident-prone Indian Point nuke plant.. if Scotty cannot fix the problem in the Jeffrey's Tube!

And, finally, Manhattan and the Bronx would be uninhabitable if the accident-prone Indian Point nuke plant.. if I dropped my beer batter shrimp into the reactor's core--

And in an unrelated Mainstream Media report, White House Press Secretary offers no comment... on rumors that Mitt Romney led police to catch Rock Perry, Herman Cain, Newt Gingrich, Ron Paul and Rick Santorum in a hotel room committing unspeakable acts with Michele Bachmann, but if the reports are true, Mitt Romney, says Carney, is the one GOP candidate the White House fears the most!

[Wuli]

If, if, if, if, if - that's the sum of the claim.

If it rains today - which it is STATISTICALLY POSSIBLE; yet the actual conditions and context to satisfy that if, in terms of PROBABILITY, are NIL today.

Of course they begin with a claim that is without substance: "..the accident-prone Indian Point nuke plant.."

Then they offer a factual impossibility, with: "..A massive radiation release similar to the 1986 catastrophe in Ukraine [Chernobyl] could also contaminate Brooklyn and chunks of Queens and Staten Island,-like disaster, an environmental group charged Monday.

The only thing is that Indian Point and Chernobyl have very little in common. The plants are of entirely different design and designed to entirely different standards. The operating standards are different. The safety standards are different. The inspection standards are different. The crisis event protocols are different. The crisis management protocols are different. The regional and local crisis management integration with nuclear plant safety and crisis management are different. And in every one of those areas of difference the overall safety standards at work with Indian Point are robust and those at Chernobyl were deficient.

And, the entire phrase of the claimants rests on the lie that Indian Point and Chernobly are similar and the adverb "could". Well, possibly, if Indian Point and Chernobyl were very much alike, "could" would move closer to "possible". But they are not alike and the claimant's "could", given the facts, amounts to "not likely".

Ah, I should have first noted that Robert Kennedy Jr. was involved in the "claims" against Indian Point, and then I would have realized a scam was before us and read no further.

[SES1066]

Looks to me that this reporter got his hands on a NRDC fund raising letter and saved himself from actually doing any reporting. Maybe at one time the NRDC did some good but like so many other ‘environmental’ organizations, their viewpoint now appears to be more anti-technology, anti-business and even anti-human.

[ctdonath2]

Fueling the debate is the March 11 earthquake and tsunami that crippled the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant in Japan - and sparked fears a similar disaster at the Hudson River plant could make parts of New York unlivable.

Well yeah, a simultaneous magnitude 9.0 earthquake and 133 ft tsunami would pretty much make parts of New York unlivable.

The odds of such a scenario impacting ANY (and I mean worldwide "any") nuclear plant are pretty much nil. That we saw it happen this year amounts to statistical assurance we'll never see such an event in our lifetimes. The plant will in all likelyhood be decommissioned and dismantled long before such a scenario hits that location.

If they're that concerned about such statistical losses, better they work on banning cars outright.

[Retired Chemist]

"The more you learn about Indian Point, the more you know it must close," said Robert Kennedy Jr., a senior attorney at NRDC

Kennedy is an idiot.

[TheOldLady]

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