nuclear-news

Strong protest call for shutdown of Indian Point nuclear station

Protesters call for shutdown of Indian Point, lohud Thomas C. Zambito, The Journal News June 9, 2016  Judy Allen listened as a federal safety official detailed the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s conclusion that Indian Point could shut down in time if a gas pipeline under construction nearby ruptured.

And she wasn’t buying it.

“You no longer have any credibility,” Allen, of Putnam Valley, told a panel of NRC officials who gathered in Tarrytown on Wednesday to deliver their annual assessment of Indian Point’s safety record.

“You have become a lapdog for (Indian Point owner) Entergy,” she added. “Putting a 42-inch gas pipeline next to Indian Point is pure insanity. I wish I had enough money in my piggybank to sue you.”

There was little common ground to be found Wednesday night when competing sides in the debate over Indian Point’s future stepped up to the microphone at the DoubleTree Hotel and weighed in on the NRC’s decision to give the nuclear power plant a passing grade in its annual safety assessment…….

decision by federal safety regulators to approve a plan by Spectra Energy to expand a natural gas pipeline that runs north from Pennsylvania to New England, touching several communities bordering Indian Point.

The decision has led to regular protests in the towns along the pipeline route. Last month, two protesters were arrested after they locked themselves inside an environmentally-friendly shipping container positioned outside a construction site in Peekskill……..

The hearing comes at a critical time for Indian Point.

On Monday, Gov. Andrew Cuomo renewed his call for the plant’s shutdown.

“Indian Point is the nuclear power plant that is the closest to the most densely populated area on the globe,” Cuomo told reporters in Poughkeepsie on Monday. “It has had a series of mishaps. We know we can find replacement power. Why you would allow Indian Point to continue to operate defies common sense, planning and basic sanity.”

Cuomo is pushing the state Public Service Commission to get behind a clean-energy plan that would force the state to rely on renewables like solar and wind power for 50 percent of its electricity over the next 15 years.

Cuomo is also pushing a slate of financial incentives for three upstate nuclear power plants struggling to make money in an economically-depressed part of the state. But the incentives wouldn’t apply to Indian Point…….http://www.lohud.com/story/tech/science/environment/2016/06/08/protesters-call-shutdown-indian-point/85613178/

June 10, 2016 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | opposition to nuclear, USA