| Blackout
Leads to Conflicting Conclusions About Keeping Indian Point
Reactors Open
By LYDIA POLGREEN
The New York Times
August 20, 2003
Depending on whom you ask, the blackout of 2003 is evidence
of two opposite conclusions about the Indian Point nuclear
reactors that sit about 35 miles north of Midtown Manhattan
on the Hudson River.
To Entergy, the company that owns them, the blackout is a
sure sign that the New York metropolitan region cannot survive
without the 2,000 megawatts of power the twin nuclear reactors
pump out onto the electrical grid.
"New York City and Westchester need power generated
closer to home and need the plants like Indian Point that
currently are providing electricity," Jim Steets, a spokesman
for the plant, said on Monday.
"None of us are taking any delight in having this outage,
but I think it really is going to be much harder for those
who have dismissed the value of these plants and demanded
that Indian Point shut down."
But those who have advocated closing the plant said that it
was disingenuous for Entergy to make that argument because
a lack of electricity was not the direct cause of the blackout.
"This blackout was caused by antiquated transmission
systems, not supply," said Alex Matthiessen, executive
director of the environmental group Riverkeeper, which is
leading the charge to shut the plant down. "It absolutely
was not an energy supply issue."
The two reactors at Indian Point shut down as a result of
the blackout that began on Thursday.
One reactor, Indian Point 3, remains shut down as workers
at the plant wait for the temperature in the reactor's cooling
system to come down to 350 degrees so that repairs to wires
inside the reactor can be made.
The other reactor, Indian Point 2, was restarted on Sunday
morning and gradually brought up to full power over the course
of the day.
Mr. Matthiessen said that far from demonstrating Indian Point's
necessity to the region, the blackout showed that New York
could manage without the energy the plant produces.
"Indian Point 2 was off-line for most of the weekend,
and it was a very warm weekend," Mr. Matthiessen said.
"And Indian Point 3 is still off-line. If anything,
this shows that we do not need these dangerous plants."
Ken Klapp, a spokesman for the New York Independent Systems
Operator, a nonprofit organization established and regulated
by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, said that neither
side had it quite right.
"The day of the incident, we had plenty of reserves
available," Mr. Klapp said.
"But we are running a fine line between our installed
capacity and what we actually need. I think generally it just
reinforces the need to reinforce existing transmission networks."
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