Indian Point Debated at Philipstown Town Board Meeting

As the Indian Point nuclear power plants approach the end of their license term in 2013 for the Indian Point II reactor and 2015 for Indian Point III reactor, activists opposed to the plants’ existence in the lower Hudson Valley are mobilizing to do everything they can to prevent those licenses from being issued, while community leaders struggle with viable alternatives.

Last week, three members of the Philipstown Town Board, Councilmen Richard Shea and David Brower and Supervisor William Mazzucca, held a workshop to discuss a proposed resolution calling for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to deny the applications for license renewal.

Shea, who requested the meeting and proposed the resolution, opened the meeting, which was attended by fewer than a dozen residents, with a series of suggestions for energy conservation.

"If we want to have a serious discussion about closing Indian Point, we need to have an alternative," said Shea. His list included conservation tips such as purchasing electricity from wind generated sources, replacing incandescent bulbs with compact fluorescent bulbs and installing a clothesline for drying laundry.

He also suggested that residents contact their elected officials in Albany to request that additional transmission lines be constructed to link this area with surplus electricity in upstate New York and Canada.

Betsy Calhoun of Garrison recommended people read "The World is Flat," by New York Times Columnist Thomas Friedman.

"He [Friedman] suggests our leaders should get people together around a cause important to everyone," she excerpted. Friedman suggests that that cause, which could be the space program of our time, could be a national science initiative that centers on energy independence for our nation.

Donna Light Donovan, a school teacher, said that in the past few years she has tried to encourage the Town Board to develop a resolution to close Indian Point. She listed some of her reasons for wanting the plant closed, citing the lack of a viable evacuation plan. Recently, she wrote a letter to the PCN&R about the NRC’s denial of the Riverkeeper’s request for new emergency signals.

"Shortly after I sent that letter, there was a power outage and I thought, ‘there could be something going on at Indian Point right now and I am worrying about finding candles’," she shared, adding, "When I tried to get petition signatures, it was clear that many people want it closed, but don’t think there is anything they can do," she said.

Steve Ives of Garrison commended the board for continuing to visit the issue. He read from a prepared statement.

"As a lifelong opponent of nuclear power, I fear that because of our nation’s nearsightedness we may be forced to rely on more nuclear power in the future," he said. His statement referenced a June 20, 2005 Time Magazine article regarding the safety of Indian Point. In it, the reporter interviews, among others, security guards at the plant who claim that there are lapses in safety. "Is it safe, secure, vital?" he questioned, alluding to Entergy’s public relations campaign slogan. Among other problems cited in the article, he noted that the spent fuel rods were kept on-site in underwater tanks and said that a fire burning on those tanks would cause a radioactive cloud to be released into the atmosphere, a claim later challenged by a nuclear scientist and retired plant worker who was in attendance.

Ives claimed that the NRC has consistently favored a policy of containing the cost of safety measures as opposed to doing everything possible to make the plant secure.

"The strongest argument is if there were a brand new plant coming in to Buchanan today, they would never build it," Shea chimed in. "So why would we re-license?"

Turning the conversation back to alternatives, Shea advised that there was a surplus of power in upstate New York, but that there was a lack of transmission lines to get that power to the more populated down-state region.

"Eventually, that plant is going to close down," he said. "It is thirty years old. It can’t keep running."

Despite the hopes he held out for alternatives, he acknowledged that the power generated by the plants was necessary.

"Will the average person conserve?" he posited, adding that he had trouble getting his own children to follow the example he was trying to set.

Mazzucca added his opinion to the mix:

"I don’t think people will conserve. What’s more, people want wind power, but not in their towns. People are talking about clean coal, but there are already groups forming to oppose that. The problem is we also have people building 8,000 square foot homes in this town." He said that any proposal would have to include an educational component. "There has to be a whole package, not just the closing of Indian Point."

Calhoun asked whether tax incentives could be used to encourage conservation methods in building.

"Keep in mind," said Mazzucca, "that a tax break for one person is a tax increase for someone else."

"The bottom line is, the possibilities of an event or of a breakdown or terrorist act are very real and there is no escape."

At this point, Chuck Powel, a retired senior reactor operator of Indian Point, spoke up in favor of keeping the plant open.

"I have lived here since 1962 and I have never attended a meeting, nor written a letter to the editor," he began. "Does any one here have a degree of expertise in nuclear physics?"

"I retired from the Navy and entered their nuclear power program. I took a one year course and was licensed by the NRC to operate an S3P and S3W nuclear submarine." When he retired from that in 1962, he went to work at Indian Point on Unit I. He earned a senior reactor operators license and transferred to unit II. He then attended another year-long course and was licensed to operate unit III, where he spent twenty years as a shift supervisor. "I feel I can speak with expertise," he said.

"To the best of my knowledge, there has never been a fatality in the United States as a result of radiology. Every year, there are forty-thousand fatalities on our highways, but no one stands up to put General Motors out of business. I think you have to live with calculated risk. To replace unit II with solar power, you would need 600 square miles of solar panels. You would need 1200 square miles to replace both units. No one has died.

"You fly in commercial airlines. Commercial airline crews receive the highest radiation dosage of any workforce, yet you have no hesitation to buy airline tickets. You have to be rational."

His remarks were met with derisive laughter.

"I can’t listen to this," said John Funck. "We know where you are coming from."

Shea insisted that Powell be allowed to continue.

Powell then spoke about the economic variables involved in closing the plant.

"You can’t go to the Home Depot and replace one of those units. It takes twelve years to get one started. You are much more apt to have a horrible death on Route 9."

"I own no stock in Entergy," he concluded, "I just had to speak my mind."

"Time Magazine is saying with great research that terrorists can easily over run them," said Funck. "I have fear based on that and because of Chernobyl."

"You are comparing apples to oranges," Powell replied. "Chernobyl was a very different reactor."

Funck fired back that the spent fuel rods were sitting in heavy water and implied that it would not be difficult for a terrorist to throw in a stick of dynamite and make a hole in the tanks and get the water to spill out.

Powell responded, "You are wrong, its plain de-ionized water with Boron." He also indicated that the tanks were underground, implying that Funck’s scenario was not likely.

Hans Moeller of Cold Spring listed some of the benefits of nuclear energy. He said that it generated no air pollution; unlike coal and oil refineries and that they were built to exacting standards.

"If you close the plant, you will have to pay off Entergy and the taxpayers will have to pay that off," he said. He also noted that European nations relied more heavily on nuclear power and continued to build plants.

Jim Barry, a Certified Health Physicist in Radiation, added his own observations:

"Having followed the nuclear debate for thirty years, I have found that the people opposed to it usually come from an emotional perspective, and the people for it are usually coming from a scientific perspective. It doesn’t make for a good debate.

"I get upset that the nuclear industry started out in secrecy and hence a vacuum occurred and people suspected the worst. For example, earlier a lady mentioned a leak - that was just a water generator leak - but, people hear there was a leak and panic. It was a whole lot of nothing." He went on to say that he worked extensively on the evacuation plan.

"There is an idea going around that if something happened, there would be instant release of radioactive gases 360 degrees into the atmosphere. That physically can’t happen. It’s not instantaneous. Radioactive gasses go with the wind. They would ask people down wind to evacuate first. We won’t be asked to evacuate all at once. Of course, I can’t account for hysteria."

"Is it realistic to ask people…" began Mazzucca, interrupting his own thought, "I have a ninth grader at Haldane and there is no way I am not going down there, no matter who I have to go through." Mazzucca’s position as Town Supervisor underscores the futility of asking residents to trust their government officials and go along with the evacuation instructions.

Shea said that he was more afraid of spent fuel rods and the possibility of the water that surrounds them going away. Barry responded that the spent fuel rods also would not spew radiation into the atmosphere and would only be a concern if someone were to "give them a bear hug."

Ives said that an airplane crashing into the fuel shed and the ensuing fire would send radioactivity into the atmosphere, according to Time. Barry later assured that airplane fuel would float on top of the water, which is forty-feet deep.

Again citing Time, Ives claimed that a marginally well-educated terrorist could trigger a melt-down, to which both scientists responded, "Never happen."

"I’m a science teacher and I think it’s illogical to think it can’t happen," said Donovan.

"My biggest problem is that our country doesn’t have a defined energy plan and where there is a plan, it’s not made with the thought of our citizens, it’s about the economics," said Councilman Brower.

Following the meeting, Shea told the PCN&R that consideration must also be given to the residents who are employed by Entergy.

The Town Board is reviewing a sample resolution and will present it for a vote in the near future. In the meantime, Westchester County Executive Andrew Spano is mounting a campaign to persuade the NRC not to re-license the plant and to entice Entergy to convert the plant to a natural gas or alternative fuel plant.