News Archive 2003

FEMA Says It Can't Approve Emergency Plan for Indian Point
By RANDAL C. ARCHIBOLD
The New York Times
February 22, 2003

The future of the Indian Point nuclear power plant in Westchester County grew cloudier last night after the Federal Emergency Management Agency reported it could not give "reasonable assurance" that emergency plans for the area around the plant would work.

The agency, issuing a 500-page preliminary finding, said it based its assessment largely on New York State's failure to provide it with crucial information, and asked state officials to comply by May 2 before it sends a final report to the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The commission, the final arbiter over whether a plant stays open, requires plants to have a FEMA-approved plan as a condition of its licenses; it has never closed a plant over emergency planning concerns.

The FEMA report was essentially another volley in an exchange between the state and federal governments over emergency planning at Indian Point, which has been a source of growing anxiety in the region over its safety and vulnerability to a terrorist attack. A range of groups and elected officials have urged federal regulators to shut down the plant, in Buchanan, 35 miles north of Midtown Manhattan.

Last month, the state said that because the four counties surrounding the plant had not given it important assurances about emergency preparations, it could not issue its own normally routine annual certification of the plan, effectively throwing the onus on FEMA. With last night's report, FEMA has passed the burden back to the state, prolonging a long debate that will eventually have to be settled by the N.R.C.

Doubts about the emergency plan, which includes steps for evacuating people within 10 miles of the plant, intensified after a state-commissioned report last month concluded that the plan would not protect the public in the event of a release of large amounts of radiation.

The FEMA report says the state study, by James Lee Witt, a former director of FEMA, made several valid points but also had factual errors. Still, Joseph Picciano, the acting regional director of FEMA, said in an interview in response to Mr. Witt's overall conclusion, "I am not necessarily in agreement with it, but on the other hand, to make a recommendation to the N.R.C. over approval, I want to see all the facts."

The FEMA report included an evaluation of a large-scale emergency planning drill conducted on Sept. 24, finding that "the exercise went relatively O.K.," Mr. Picciano said.

But the agency found several problems, too, including problems in disseminating information accurately and quickly to the public.

In addition, FEMA said it had asked for and still not received from the state updated information on such things as letters of agreement from school bus companies that they would participate in evacuations, updated estimates on how long it would take to evacuate various parts of Westchester and details on emergency plans for certain schools and day care centers. FEMA's report said that the state and localities had previously promised to provide the missing information.

Officials at the state Emergency Management Office did not respond to messages seeking comment.

If New York does not provide the necessary information, the report said, FEMA would notify the Nuclear Regulatory Commission that "assurance cannot be provided regarding the adequacy of the plans to protect the health and safety of the public."

The N.R.C., under its regulations, would then ask the state to fix any problems before deciding whether to allow the plant to continue operating. That process could last several months and may face legal challenges from either Entergy, the plant's owner, or opponents of the plant. Both sides have suggested that they would use the courts to meet their goals.

FEMA's position on the plan had been widely anticipated, because the N.R.C. typically abides by FEMA's findings, though a top official at the commission said yesterday it would make its own judgment.

Release of the report preceded a Congressional hearing scheduled for Tuesday in Washington, with testimony expected from top FEMA and N.R.C. officials.

Hours before the report was released, a top official of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission met privately with a range of local elected officials, including Representatives Eliot L. Engel and Nita M. Lowey, both Democrats, who have pressed the commission to shut the plant.

Hubert J. Miller, the director of the commission's regional office covering New York, said after the meeting at Mercy College in Dobbs Ferry, N.Y., that despite finding what he called minor problems with security, he regarded Indian Point as "the most heavily defended plant in the country."

Mr. Miller said the security concerns detected over the past several months by the commission's inspectors did not "cut into the basic adequacy of security." A commission spokesman said later that those problems included a gun missing from a storage area and guards working long hours; the problems have not lead the commission to sanction the plant for violating regulations, though the investigation is continuing.

Mr. Engel and Ms. Lowey did not seem swayed by Mr. Miller. Speaking to reporters after the meeting, they reiterated their complaints that, in the words of Mr. Engel, "the N.R.C. is acting like it's Sept. 10."

"The only action I will be satisfied with," he added, "is the closing of the Indian Point nuclear plant."

Mr. Miller sought to assure the gathering that the commission takes security at the plant seriously. It was in that context that he disclosed the commission has been investigating an unspecified number of security problems, including the missing gun and complaints by guards that they are overworked and fatigued.

Nonetheless, Mr. Miller also defended the commission and the plant, saying that Entergy and the commission had taken a number of steps to improve security. The plant has installed new or additional barriers, has bolstered training and weaponry and plans to hire several more guards, he said. Already it has more guards than any other nuclear plant in the country, he said.

Jim Steets, a spokesman for Entergy, said the company has hired 25 guards in the past year and plans to hire 25 more, in part to help reduce overall work hours. He said officials have still not found the gun, missing since last summer, but are continuing their investigation. Regarding the maintenance of weapons, he said the company put in place new procedures earlier this year to ensure that all weapons are cleaned and ready for use at the start of shifts.

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