Clearwater, our partner in closing and decommissioning Indian Point, has put out an attractive and informative newsletter that shows the scope of what they are doing. We will all miss the traditional Revival in June of this year and the networking that went on in the activist section. Please do read about what is going on now with the boat and scroll down to see these four special sections. Then follow the really easy steps to take a critical Indian Point Action Alert. Holtec is the company that is seeking Nuclear Regulatory Commission approval to decommission Indian Point.They have a criminal record, are in court in New Jersey for bribery and have been forbidden to work for the World Bank for the next 10 years. It is important that the NRC hear from many stakeholders that this is not the company that we need for the critical work of decommissioning Indian Point. Clearwater has made it easy to send a letter. Scroll down to the article and click on the link to get started. It is easy and very Important. What could be better. Do it now!
Marilyn Elie
Indian Point Safe Energy Coalition
Click Here for Clearwater Newsletter Signup (Scroll to bottom of page)
Remembering Fukushima
Today marks the ninth anniversary of the March 11, 2011 nuclear disaster at Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear plant. A year later four eyewitnesses came from Japan to speak with First Responders at Manhattanville College about how emergency services responded to the calamity. They were joined by two leading US emergency preparedness response experts, a seismologist from Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, and then Westchester County Executive Andy Spano. There was not a dry eye in the room and the lessons learned apply as much today as they did almost a decade ago.
As Indian Point and other nuclear power stations begin the decommissioning process, concerns about evacuation and response to disasters are more important than ever because the decommissioning process is potentially longer and more dangerous that the operation of the plant.
Please take a few minutes and watch the 3-minute trailer of this moving event:
The full presentation can be seen in 4 parts here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FwtCwujKsB8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v97JaenN4zQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tDJx7H1VViE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7969eOBl6LQ
Indian Point Action Alert
We have until March 25 to stop one of the greatest threats to our region: the pending sale of Indian Point to an unqualified, untrustworthy company called Holtec.
Here’s how — and why – you need to weigh in: At the end of April 2020 and 2021 Indian Point’s nuclear reactors will close after more than 40 years of operation and enter the decommissioning phase. Entergy, Indian Point’s current owner, has applied to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to sell the plant and transfer its licenses to Holtec, who lacks experience in nuclear decommissioning and has a record of malfeasance — bribery, fraud, risk-taking, dangerous incompetence, lying to public officials and contempt for public concern or input — causing them to be barred from doing business with the Tennessee Valley Authority and the World Bank.
This puts the safety of the 20 million people who live or work within 50 miles of Indian Point and the future of this region in danger. Holtec plans to do “quick and dirty” decommissioning to maximize the remaining balance of the ratepayer-created Decommissioning Trust Fund, which they would get to keep. But if costs exceed the amount set aside for decommissioning, Holtec’s limited liability corporations can simply declare bankruptcy, and neither the parent company nor Entergy would have any further responsibility.
As NY Attorney General Letitia James said when filing a petition to the NRC challenging the license transfer to Holtec, “Putting the decommissioning of Indian Point in the hands of a company with no experience and uncertain financial resources is very risky.” Please urge the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to deny the license transfer to Holtec. We’ve made it really easy to submit a comment and it will just take a few minutes. Click here to take action, for sample comments and more information.
Office of the Inspector General Raises Concerns Pertaining to Gas Transmission Lines at the Indian Point Nuclear
Power Plant,
Event Inquiry,
Case No. 16-024,
ML20056F095.
On Feb. 13, 2020, the NRC Office of Inspector General issued a report that was highly critical of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC)’s handling of the Algonquin Pipeline expansion near Indian Point by failing to properly analyze the safety impacts as part of the approval process.
Since then, nearly every local, county, state and Federal elected official has weighed in calling for the NRC to redo the study and answer for its failings.
In addition to the now operational 42″ high-pressure gas pipeline that this faulty assessment allowed to be constructed just south of the site, there are two very old pipelines — a 26″ built in 1952 and a 30″ built in 1965 — running directly under the plant that were there before Indian Point was built. For years, Clearwater has been raising concerns about the NRC’s lax oversight, excessive granting of waivers and exemptions and allowing the nuclear industry to put profit over public health and safety.
In October 2019 we held a Regional Decommissioning Forum that brought testimony from experts and other reactor communities to local, state and federal elected officials and community members. The Inspector General’s Report validates our concerns and underscores why New York State needs a Decommissioning Oversight Board made up of all relevant state agencies and key community stakeholders to ensure the safest possible decommissioning of Indian Point and the 3 other nuclear facilities in western NY. Click here for a summary of the OIG Report Findings and two revealing comments by former Union of Concerned Scientists’ nuclear specialist David Lochbaum.
Replacing Indian Point’s Power with Renewables plus Storage and Grid Improvements
In 2019, when Governor Cuomo signed the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA), he also announced the procurement of 1,750 MW of offshore wind and 1,250 MW of transmission improvements that will allow wind and other renewables to get from upstate to downstate more easily by relieving two major bottlenecks. With battery storage this can ensure the rapid transition to a renewable energy economy in New York.
CLCPA goals include 70% renewable energy generation by 2030 and fully 100% clean energy by 2040, with greenhouse gas emission reductions of 40% by 2030 and 85% by 2050 below 1990 levels. The 22-member Climate Action Council, charged with implementing CLCPA, was convened on March 3 under the leadership of DEC Commissioner Basil Seggos and NYSERDA Chairperson, Alicia Barton. Richard Webster of Riverkeeper just posted an excellent op ed on this topic in the Gotham Gazette New York Has Already Moved Beyond Indian Point Nuclear Power; Here’s Where We’re Headed. Clearwater is spearheading the collaborative Regional Renewable Energy Implementation Plan to ensure the implementation of CLCPA here in the 7-county Mid-Hudson region.
