FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: August 6, 2003     

For more information contact:

Lisa Rainwater van Suntum (646) 281-4426   

Mark Jacobs (914) 906-9974                                                                                                                                

Kyle Rabin (845) 424-4149 x 239

COALITION ASKS,

“GOVERNOR PATAKI, WHERE ARE YOU ON INDIAN POINT?”

Coalition members declare that the Governor is merely burying his head in the sand by refusing to acknowledge sound scientific research that would dismiss his hesitations to closing Indian Point.  According to the Governor, his two concerns – the safety of the “spent” fuel rods and identifying an alternative energy source and – are holding him back from standing beside over 300 Democratic and Republican elected officials from the tri-state region who are calling for immediate closure. 

NEW YORK CITY (August 6, 2003)  At a press conference today held in front of Governor Pataki’s New York City office, members of the Indian Point Safe Energy Coalition (IPSEC), addressed the governor’s concerns over securing the irradiated (“spent”) fuel rods currently onsite at Indian Point and identifying an alternative energy source for Indian Point, which is located a mere 22 miles from New York City.

SAFETY OF THE IRRADIATED (“SPENT”) FUEL RODS

Governor Pataki’s spokeswoman was quoted saying, ‘the plant's closure in and of itself does not mitigate the risk posed by the spent fuel rods, which would remain at the site.’ -- In response, Lisa Rainwater van Suntum, PhD, project coordinator of the coalition, responded, “Governor Pataki should realize that the risk to the public is greatly reduced with the cessation of the reactors, 20 days after which the reactor core’s radioactive inventory through half-life decay, has decreased significantly. Hardening the spent fuel storage goes even further to limiting the risk; currently, Entergy is doing the bare minimum at the plant to protect the high-level radioactive waste fuel.” 

 FACT: Closing Indian Point eliminates an obvious target and significantly reduces the potential for and consequences of a radioactive release in the event of an accident or successful terrorist attack. Just days after shutdown, Indian Point’s reactor core inventory of short-lived radioisotopes is substantially reduced through half-life decay, thus significantly decreasing potential early health effects and thyroid cancers in surrounding populations if a release occurs. According to the Nuclear Control Institute, after a shutdown of twenty days the number of acute fatalities (within a 10-mile radius) from a core meltdown and breach of containment would be reduced by around 80 percent and the number of long-term cancer deaths (within a 50-mile radius) by about 50 percent. 

 Shutting down Indian Point will stop the production of the highly radioactive waste fuel.  Within six months, through the process of radioactive decay, even the youngest, most radioactive fuel rods have reached a stage where reduced radioactive inventory poses a lesser threat to public health and safety.  The current process of jam-packing irradiated fuel rods in cooling pools is not a safe way to protect the public.  At Indian Point alone, there is approximately 1500 tons of irradiated spent fuel.  A spent fuel fire disaster at this plant could release up to 20 times the amount of cesium-137 -- a radioactive isotope with a half-life of 30 years that gives off highly penetrating radiation which is absorbed into the food chain -- that was released from the 1986 Chernobyl meltdown and still results in much of the area around Chernobyl being uninhabitable. 

 The plant’s current method of storing its irradiated fuel is vulnerable to terrorist attack. Both the irradiated fuel pool storage buildings and the dry casks must be fortified to repel entry or penetration via air or ground attack.  Experts in the field of nuclear science and homeland security are calling for a new method of securing the fuel rods.  In his study, “Robust Storage of Spent Nuclear Fuel: A Neglected Issue of Homeland Security,” (http://www.nukebusters.org) Dr. Gordon Thompson, Institute for Resource and Security Studies (IRSS), recommends that each fuel storage module be encased in layers of concrete, steel, and other materials. This “hardening” of materials would remain onsite and disbursed uniformly across the site.  This spring, a study by Frank von Hippel of Princeton University and other researchers concurred with Dr. Thompson, arguing that the US needs to better protect the spent fuel rods and pools at nuclear power plants in this post-9/11 era.  (The paper was recently published in the journal, Science and Global Security: Alvarez,R., Beyea, J., Janberg, K., Kang, J., Lyman, E., Macfarlane, A., Thompson, G., and von Hippel, F.N. “Reducing the hazards from stored spent power-reactor fuel in the United States.” Vol 11, 1:1-51.)

 IDENTIFYING AN ALTERNATIVE ENERGY SOURCE

“According to the Governor’s spokeswoman, Mr. Pataki believes that ‘the best long-term approach would be an eventual phase-out’ of the plant once a replacement energy source could be found.’  -- Rainwater van Suntum commented, “If this is one of the two issues holding Pataki up from calling for closure, he can rest assured, for its quite clear that we can live without Indian Point’s electricity.  A comprehensive transition plan will be released this fall, and we look forward to working with him on the phasing-out of Indian Point.”

 FACT: A recent study, conducted by Cambridge-based Synapse Energy Economics (http://www.synapse-energy.com/publications.htm), concluded that if we permanently close Indian Point 2 & 3 tomorrow there would be adequate electricity generation and transmission capacity to power New York City, Westchester County, and New York State as a whole.  Taking both Indian Point units off-line would not lead to rolling blackouts and brownouts.

 Using published information from the New York Independent System Operator (NYISO), which is an independent, not for-profit-organization established and regulated by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Synapse researchers proved beyond a doubt that there is more than sufficient energy to serve expected peak loads and provide reasonable capacity reserves.  The NYISO currently predicts that peak demands in New York City will be just over 11,000 Megawatts (MW) during the summers of 2003 and 2004. Even if Indian Point were retired, New York City still would have more than 13,100 Megawatts (MW) of electric generating and transmission import capacity available to meet these projected peak demands while providing adequate system reserves to meet unexpected plant outages or higher than normal summer temperatures.

 There are short-term options and long-term options for replenishing the 2000 MW’s in the reserve margin with Indian Point offline.  Short-term options include:  an aggressive public education campaign for energy efficiency and conservation, and importing power from neighboring grids.  Long-term options include:  bringing the environmentally-friendliest of the 11 state-certified power plants online, bearing in mind the goal of selecting those power projects that have the least impact on the communities in which they are placed; utilizing technology to draw power from transmission lines between New Jersey and upstate New York to New York City; and finally, investing in renewable energy sources such as wind farms upstate.

 “The study was presented to the Governor, so we’re unclear why this continues to be an issue for him.  We are heartened by his conviction to close Indian Point when an alternative energy source can be identified; those sources already exist.  We look forward to working with the Governor on implementing these new methods. Governor Pataki needs to show leadership here at home and in Washington.  Scientists have proven we don’t need the energy; scientists have proven that closure of a nuclear plant diminishes not only the amount of radioactive waste but also the risk of potential harm to the public.  The coalition asks, ‘With your concerns now addressed, Governor, where are you on Indian Point?  The public is eagerly awaiting your call for closure.’” stated Rainwater van Suntum. 

 For an in-depth analysis of energy replacement and securing the fuel pools, please read our Issue Brief.

Indian Point Safe Energy Coalition (IPSEC). IPSEC is a coalition of fifty-nine civic, environmental, health and public policy organizations that formed in response to a flood of citizen concerns about the safety of Indian Point nuclear power plants after the terrorist attacks on 9.11.01.  Our goal is to ensure the safety and security of our neighborhoods by bringing about the immediate closure of Indian Point and its safe and orderly decommissioning.   For a list of member organizations, please go to: www.IPSECinfo.org.

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