| Improvements ease
Indian Point worries
The Poughkeepsie Journal
Editorial
May 3, 2003
Indian Point has been the focus of plenty of criticism for
years, much of it justified. Official evacuation plans, prepared
in case of a major emergency, are seriously inadequate. They
desperately need to be rewritten. But on one front at least,
there are signs of welcome improvement at the nuclear-powered
generating plant complex -- and that's the quality of its
operating crews.
Within three minutes of a fire being discovered in the Indian
Point 3 plant, the crew on duty had the reactor safely shut
down. The fire -- under investigation by the complex's owner,
Entergy Inc., and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission -- occurred
in insulation around a steam turbine, which does not handle
radioactive materials.
Still, this well-handled emergency suggests the situation
is much improved at the Westchester County facility under
Entergy. Soon after the company took over from Consolidated
Edison in 2001, four of seven control room crews failed their
regular qualifying tests. The company immediately began retraining
staff, with NRC assistance. And this spring, in their most
recent relicensing exams, plant operators got much better
scores.
Entergy has also been catching up on a long list of desperately
needed repairs left by Con Ed. Under the previous owner, there
was a series of breakdowns and leaks. While the public was
never in serious danger, some of the incidents did involve
emissions of nuclear radiation.
Entergy has invested more than $500 million into replacing
old, unreliable equipment to improve safety. While some major
repairs are still needed, Entergy has reduced the list considerably,
said Hubert Miller, NRC regional director.
The most substantial problem that remains is not at the plant
itself, but with government. An independent report issued
this year convincingly criticized existing evacuation plans
because they fail to address the possibility of a terrorist
attack. Government is still lobbing around the ball of responsibility
on this.
The state's energy needs are growing, and, without Indian
Point, power would have to be imported from out of state,
at great cost. While Indian Point isn't in perfect shape,
New York needs the power it generates.
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