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New
York City’s nuclear power plant leaking ‘uncontrollable
radioactive flow’ into Hudson River
29
February, 2016
New
York governor Andrew Cuomo recently
called for an investigation after
Indian Point, a nuclear power plant on the Hudson River, reported a
leak of radioactive material flowing into the groundwater. Now, new
samples taken from the local groundwater show that contamination
levels are 80% higher than previous samples, prompting experts to
claim this leak is spreading in “a disaster waiting to happen”
and calling for the plant to be shut down completely. The Indian
Point nuclear power plant is
located just 25 miles north of New York City, and it’s a crucial
source of of power for over 23 million people living in the greater
NYC metropolitan region.
The
Indian Point plant is located upriver from NYC, and it’s a serious
threat to the whole region, according to watchdog group Riverkeeper.
“It’s a disaster waiting to happen and it should be shut down,”
Paul Gallay, president of Riverkeeper,
told CBS
News.
Indian Point has been operating for around 40 years, and generates
about 25 percent of the electric power for Westchester and New York
City. The plant, owned by Entergy,
is leaking tritium, a radioactive substance. Three of the forty
Indian Point wells showed an increase in radioactive material, and
one of the wells showed a 65,000 percent increase. Entergy
states that this leak will not harm local inhabitants, as the
groundwater is located on their property. John J. Kelly, former
director of licensing for Indian Point and a certified healthy
physicist, said that tritium is a radioactive form of hydrogen that
is found naturally. “It’s more of a regulatory problem than an
environmental problem,” said
Kelly.
This
isn’t the first problem at the plant, though. Power failures,
fires and an alarm failure have all plagued the site in the past
year. “This latest failure at Indian Point is unacceptable and I
have directed Department of Environmental Conservation Acting
Commissioner Basil Seggos and Department of Health Commissioner
Howard Zucker to fully investigate this incident and employ all
available measures, including working with the Nuclear Regulatory
Commission, to determine the extent of the release, its likely
duration, cause, and potential impacts to the environment and public
health,” Cuomo said in
an official statement.
“For
over 40 years, Entergy’s Indian Point nuclear facilities have been
damaging the coastal resources of the Hudson River estuary…New
York is home to four commercial nuclear facilities. When properly
located and safely functioning, these facilities are regarded as
important generators of electricity… However, by virtue of its
location as well as its operations, the Department cannot make the
same finding as to Indian Point,” Secretary
of State Cesar Perales said.
Indian
Point has experienced other leaks in the past, and the investigation
may influence whether the power plant continues to operate in the
future.
Indian Point Leak Foreshadows the End of the Nuclear Age
http://fortune.com/2016/02/28/indian-point-end-of-nuclear-age/
New York could be the next Fukushima as world governments roll back nuclear power.
The Indian Point nuclear power plant in New York State is leaking radioactive contaminant into nearby groundwater, and despite plant operator Entergy’s ELA 0.07% assurances that the leak has “no health or safety consequences,” Governor Andrew Cuomo called earlier this month for a full investigation by state environment and health officials.
The latest revelations add to a mounting list of recent accidents and problems at Indian Point, and Cuomo’s hard stance is nothing new, either. As of November of last year, Cuomo’s office actively opposed the continuing operation of Indian Point.
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