Don't overreact on Indian Point
Editorial
New York Daily News
March 17, 2003

The owners of the Indian Point nuclear plant did themselves and the community a disservice by asserting after 9/11 that everything was just hunky dory at the facility. There are problems - notably with the evacuation contingencies - and closing the power plant may yet have to be considered.

However, right now, short of an immediate threat, Indian Point Reactors 2 and 3 should keep running until there's a plan for replacing the 2,000 megawatts supplied by the plant. That's power for 2 million homes.

In the meantime, the sky-is-falling crowd should stop stirring the public's fear. That's irresponsible. The decision on whether to shutter the plant must be based on fact and reason, not emotion.

Gov. Pataki commissioned a report on Indian Point by James Lee Witt, director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency under former President Bill Clinton. While it doesn't take a position on plant closure, it does say the evacuation plan in case of a nuclear accident is inadequate, something the owners of Indian Point never made clear to the public.

FEMA has ordered New York State to certify emergency plans by May 2. The agency will then report to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission on the adequacy of the plans. The goal should be to secure the reactor and upgrade evacuation contingencies.

Even if Indian Point is closed, though, there's still the issue of four decades worth of spent nuclear fuel stored at the Buchanan site, 35 miles north of midtown. Risks will remain.

On the plus side, Witt pointed out that Entergy, which owns the plant, has made it more secure and has replaced equipment and overhauled training practices. Just last week, the NRC released annual performance reviews showing that Indian Point 3 continues to be one of the best-run nuclear plants in the country. Meanwhile, Indian Point 2, which has had problems in the past, has made significant improvements. (Indian Point 1 was closed in 1974 because it lacked an emergency cooling system.)

Pataki says the NRC should reevaluate the way it licenses and monitors nuclear plants. While that form of regulation is the feds' job, making sure New York has enough power is the governor's job.

Pataki, who has yet to express an opinion on Indian Point, must decide whether to close the place. In the process, he must make sure the public understands the alternatives - including the need to site and build replacement fossil-fuel plants. When it comes to power, nuclear and otherwise, New Yorkers should not be kept in the dark.

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