nuclear-news

NY Governor Cuomo thinks Indian Point is too dangerous to operate. He’s right. But why are upstate reactors any different?

In mid-1986, New York Governor Mario Cuomo was asked about the future of nuclear power. The future of nuclear power, he replied, “is Chernobyl.” He understood that nuclear power is dangerous, and he understood that it could never become safe enough to use. He made good on that statement too: he decided to prevent the Shoreham reactor on Long Island, for which construction was basically completed and it had even been tested at very low power, from ever operating.

While he made a futile attempt at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to get them to deny a license to Shoreham, on the grounds that Long Island could never be evacuated in the event of a nuclear meltdown, he also created the Long Island Power Authority (LIPA) and made the much-criticized local…