Frequently Asked Questions About Indian Point Energy Center

Is the Indian Point Energy Center secure from attack?

Yes. Security experts call Indian Point Energy Center, “The best-defended industrial facility in America.” Indian Point remains at its highest possible alert status, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

What security measures are being taken?

Since Sept. 11, many security enhancements have been put in place. Numerous security layers are in effect:

1. The Federal Government provides military air cover and aircraft interdiction. The National Guard patrols on site and the Coast Guard patrols adjacent waters.
   
   
2. Indian Point’s armed, well-trained security force maintains on-going contact with local, county, state and federal public safety and law enforcement agencies.
   
   
3. Access to the controlled property is restricted to identified personnel only. Roadways are controlled by multiple barricades. Access to the plant is restricted to plant employees who have passed in-depth security background checks, and who undergo lengthy entry and exit examinations at our security checkpoint. Access to vital plant areas is restricted to an even smaller number of authorized personnel.

What assurances are there that the plant is safe and that the public is protected from radiation
or a nuclear explosion?

1. There cannot be a nuclear explosion at the Indian Point plants as a result of an aircraft crash or any other event. It would counter the laws of physics.
   
   
2. The plants can be shut down and the nuclear fission process stopped in less than two seconds. The plant staff is trained and drilled to deal with any emergency.
   
   
3. There cannot be a Chernobyl-type event at Indian Point Energy Center. Indian Point has safeguards that Chernobyl did not, such as a high-integrity containment building.
   
   
4. The Indian Point plants were designed with multiple, redundant safety systems and components. First, to prevent accidents, and second, to minimize the effects of any accidents if they did occur.

What would happen if a large aircraft struck Indian Point?

1. The reactors and most radioactive materials in the plants are within containment structures of high-strength steel-reinforced concrete that is 3½ to 4½ feet thick, with a half-inch steel inner liner. They are designed to safeguard plant personnel and the community even under extreme scenarios.
   
   
2. There have been several tests of containment-like facilities using aircraft. In one test an F-4 Phantom fighter jet collided at 480 mph with a target similar to a nuclear containment facility, and did not penetrate the structure. Even a larger aircraft could not penetrate because the steel-reinforced concrete is designed to resist and disperse the impact.

What about the spent fuel pool for used nuclear fuel?

1. Storage facilities for nuclear fuel have walls 6 feet thick from top to bottom and are made of steel-reinforced concrete, with a steel inner liner. The structures are relatively small in size, are mostly underground and are shielded by surrounding structures.
   
   
2. The used fuel is under 23 feet of water, and there are multiple ways to assure the fuel remains covered with water.

How Important is Indian Point to our electricity supply?

1. Indian Point Energy Center contributes 20 percent to 40 percent of the electricity in the metropolitan area. Millions of homes, thousands of businesses and hundreds of critical transportation, health and municipal systems rely on its reliable, low-cost power.
   
   
2. Without Indian Point’s 2,000 megawatts, energy costs would rise over an estimated $1 billion a year in the New York area. There could be wholesale price spikes as high as 40 percent, and rolling blackouts. This would create a situation disturbingly similar to the troublesome energy markets experienced in California.
   
   
3. Such an energy crisis would deliver a severe blow to the local economy, and would have a major impact on business development and efforts to rebuild the economy.
   
   
4. The head of the agency that administers New York State’s power supply said shutting down Indian Point would lead to a five-fold increase in the likelihood of power shortages in the New York metropolitan area during the summer.
   
   
5. Replacing Indian Point’s 2,000-megawatt contribution would require building a fleet of new generating facilities that burn fossil fuel, adding new high voltage transmission lines and laying new gas pipelines.

What direct impact does Indian Point have on the local economy?

1. Indian Point Energy Center employs 1,500 highly skilled, highly trained workers. Closing the plants would wipe out their jobs, plus those of outside contractors.
   
   
2. Indian Point’s annual payroll, plus the value of goods and services purchased locally for the plants, is $356 million, which would be eliminated from the area’s economy if the plants were to close.
   
   
3. Local governments would see a noticeable drop in tax revenues that would need to be recovered through other means. In 2001 Indian Point Energy Center paid $34 million in local taxes.

What about converting Indian Point to a gas-fired plant, or bringing in replacement power
from New England?

1. Conversion to gas fuel would require construction of a gas pipeline larger than the proposed Millennium Pipeline, and would take as long as 10 years to complete, during which Indian Point’s 2,000 megawatts would need to be replaced.
   
   
2. Due to transmission constraints in the electrical grid for Southeastern New York, not enough power could be imported from New England to replace Indian Point’s contribution.

What about the emergency evacuation plan?

1. The emergency evacuation plan serves as a blueprint for evacuations for any cause, including natural disasters or man-made events like chemical spills, not just for possible events at nuclear facilities.
   
   
2. The current plan has been developed and certified by the state and officials of the four counties involved-Westchester, Rockland, Orange and Putnam. It is based on years of scientific data collection and is constantly being updated, improved and kept current with changing conditions.