“The mouthpieces for the Indian Point nuclear power plants and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission have become such masters of spinning they could teach a class at Club Fit.


No matter what happens with the aging plants, it’s never a big deal, never a threat to the public.

Warning sirens that don’t sound? No problem.

A worker that stumbles into the control panel and shuts down the plant? No big deal. Could have happened to anyone.

Leakage of a radioactive, cancer-causing material into the Hudson River, the only such seepage of Strontium 90 from 103 nuclear power plants in the United States? It’s under control, kind of.

The worst part about the constant spin doctoring is it happens so often Entergy representatives have run out of creative ways to try to put the pubic at ease.

And why should they change what they’re doing? After all, the NRC simply rubberstamps everything that is done at Indian Point as protestors correctly and cleverly pointed out yesterday (Tuesday) outside a pair of marathon public meetings about the latest mishaps at the dome of doom in Buchanan.

Entergy could regain some credibility with the public if it announced it had no intentions of filing for an extension of the 30-year operating permits the NRC controls for the plants, but no one should hold their breath for that blockbuster because it’s never going to happen.

Westchester County Executive Andrew Spano and others have repeatedly called for the closures of the plants, to no avail. Heck, the pope could ask for forgiveness for all the misleading and twisted information that has been spewed from Entergy and it would fall on deaf ears.

The plants are a ticking time bomb and the spent fuel rods are a nuisance that will have to be dealt with for decades, long after the plants, some day, are turned off.

In the meantime, Entergy and the NRC walk in lockstep, earning millions of dollars together and making a mockery of a dangerous situation that keeps turning from bad to worse.“

This editorial originally appeared in the North County News