As Indian Point Energy Center inches through the relicensing gauntlet, a new government report casts doubt on the plant”™s evacuation plan.
The federal General Accountability Office released a report criticizing the evacuation plan of the Buchanan power plant, owned by New Orleans-based Entergy Corp., saying the evacuation plan does not take into account so-called shadow evacuators, people who live outside the 10-mile zone, but who might evacuate anyway.
Entergy and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission dispute the GAO”™s report.
“These plans are not based on reality,” said Phillip Musegaas, Hudson River program director at Riverkeeper, the Ossining-based environmental organization opposed to relicensing.
Riverkeeper and the GAO fear people who live outside the 10-mile zone would think they have to evacuate or choose to evacuate, causing a traffic nightmare.
“We have 20 million people living within 50 miles of the plant and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission thinks that won”™t effect an evacuation,” Musegaas said. “Anyone who has driven over a bridge around here knows that is a fantasy.”
Musegaas claims that the 10-mile zone itself is fatally flawed, pointing out the Fukushima disaster, which contaminated villages 40 to 50 miles away.
“The NRC”™s plan is built on a house of cards,” Musegaas said. “There is no performance standard by which these plans are measured. Their premise is based on a fantasy: everyone will do what they are told and people outside the radius won”™t do anything.”
Jerry Nappi, a spokesman for Entergy, said this is a disagreement between the GAO and NRC and he doesn”™t expect shadow evacuations to be an issue if an evacuation were to occur.
“It will not impact it greatly,” Nappi said. “GAO simply had an issue with the estimate the NRC uses. We don”™t expect to have to make a change, but we will make necessary changes if needed.”
Entergy purchased Unit 2 from Consolidated Edison Inc. in 2000 and Unit 3 from Con Ed in 2001.
Neil Sheehan, a spokesman for the NRC, said he expects the highways would open up the farther away one gets from Indian Point, easing traffic concerns.
“These would not be normal traffic conditions,” Sheehan said. “There would be traffic checkpoints with state and local police. They have the option of changing traffic flow. Evacuations happen often and go much more smoothly than people are led to believe.”
In an evacuation, Sheehan said people tend to listen to instructions given to them by authorities and the process works.
As the bickering over evacuation continues, the plant seeks relicensing by the NRC. Entergy”™s license for Unit 2 expires in September, though because the company filed its paperwork in 2007, the plant can remain open until a decision is made. Unit 3”™s license expires in December, but it also could continue running if the relicensing drags on.
Last November, relicensing hearings were held in Tarrytown, as Riverkeeper and New York state, among others, presented their arguments against relicensing. The NRC expects hearings to be completed by the end of the year.
Any decision made by the NRC would be subject to appeal by either Entergy or an opposition group, prolonging the process. Appeals would then go to federal court. Sheehan said there is no exact timetable for when the process will be complete.
“There is tremendous work to be done on their application but we really are in the final phases,” Sheehan said. “We are focused on concluding the process.”
Entergy is also pursuing a water quality certificate from the state Department of Environmental Conversation.
The NRC previously said in a 2007 safety evaluation report that Indian Point is safe and can operate for 20 years.
“Entergy has spent more than $1 billion to strengthen and enhance every aspect of safety,” Nappi said. “Indian Point is really important for New York.”
Entergy employs 1,100 people at Indian Point, with hundreds of contractors additionally working at any time. The company has a $140 million payroll and estimates $1 billion in economic impact to the region, along with $75 million in property taxes and payments.
One of Indian Point”™s employees is Sean Murray, mayor of Buchanan and senior nuclear mechanic. About 25 percent of the village”™s budget is funded through Entergy”™s payment in lieu of taxes (PILOT).
Murray supports the relicensing of Indian Point and said residents feel the same way. Like the village, a significant amount of the Hendrick Hudson School District”™s budget comes from Entergy”™s PILOT.
At Riverkeeper, the organization is working on preventing Indian Point”™s relicensing.
“We do not believe plant has been well maintained,” Musegaas said. “It”™s not in good condition. There are radioactive leaks that are contaminating the environment, the groundwater and the Hudson River.”
Indian Point”™s location, 34 miles from Times Square, is another concern to Riverkeeper, which sees it vulnerable to a terrorist attack.
