The nuclear crisis in Japan and the fallout it has caused concerning Indian Point is reminiscent of the accidents at Three Mile Island and Chernobyl more than 30 years ago that were in part to blame for the shutdown of the Shoreham Nuclear Power Plant on Long Island.
The 1979 accident at Three Mile Island in Harrisburg, Pa., prompted the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to make changes to its regulations, including requiring all nuclear power plants to formulate evacuation plans in cooperation with local and state governments. The catastrophe at the Chernobyl plant in Russia in 1986 galvanized opposition to the Shoreham plant.
In 1983, newly elected Gov. Mario Cuomo had serious issues with Long Island Lighting Co.”™s (LILCO) evacuation plans for its Shoreham plant. His refusal to have the state sign off on LILCO”™s evacuation plans played a major part in the state and LILCO signing an agreement Feb. 28, 1989 to shut the plant.
Today, Mario Cuomo”™s son Andrew is governor and for years, both as attorney general and in his gubernatorial campaign, made it known he is against the relicensing of the Indian Point plants. In the aftermath of the problems at the nuclear power plants in Japan, Cuomo has held discussions with the NRC regarding the state”™s structural and safety concerns at Indian Point in the event of an earthquake.
The Business Journal attempted to contact former Gov. Mario Cuomo to discuss any issues he may have had regarding Indian Point during the controversy over the Shoreham plant. Several calls to the law firm Wilkie, Farr & Gallagher L.P., where he serves as of counsel, were not returned.
Gov. Andrew Cumo”™s office also did not return repeated calls seeking comment.
Shoreham plant ”˜really was a boondoggle”™
To get some perspective on the similarities and differences between Shoreham and Indian Point, the Business Journal talked with former Assemblyman Arthur “Jerry” Kremer, who not only hails from Long Island but also served 23 years in the state Legislature. He was in office during the Shoreham plant controversy as well as at the time of the sale of Indian Point Unit No. 3 to the New York Power Authority in 1975.
Kremer, who is chairman of the New York Affordable Reliable Electricity Alliance (New York AREA), said, “The similarity (between Shoreham and Indian Point) was the fight over the evacuation plan. A lot of groups from Connecticut as well as New York weighed in on the (Shoreham) evacuation issue.”
Indian Point”™s evacuation plan has been criticized in the past and will likely be scrutinized once again as the NRC and New York state review seismic risks at the plant and its impacts on the surrounding area.
Where the 820-megawatt Shoreham plant and the 2,000-megawatt Indian Point plants part company is that while Indian Point is at or near full operation, Shoreham never came close to operating at full capacity. In 1985, it received federal permission to run at low power (5 percent). According to the Long Island Power Authority, which bought the shuttered Shoreham plant for one dollar, Shoreham operated sporadically for two years, with only two days at full power.
“The Shoreham plant cost over $6 billion to construct. It really was a boondoggle,” Kremer said.
”˜America”™s fist stillborn reactor”™
In the 1980s, the owner of the plant, LILCO, was contemplating bankruptcy over the cost overruns at the project, which began construction in 1973 as a much smaller plant with an original price tag of some $70 million.
Kremer said there was considerable debate over who would shoulder the cost of building the Shoreham plant. Due to Gov. Mario Cuomo”™s intervention, LILCO officially abandoned the plant on June 28, 1989, and a surcharge of 3 percent was attached to utility customers”™ electric bills for 30 years to pay the debt service on it.
“Every ratepayer in Suffolk County today, mother, child pays $2,000 a year toward the Shoreham debt,” Kremer said.
The plant has a number of dubious distinctions. Such as:
- In June 1992 it became the first commercial U.S. power plant to be dismantled.
- The cost of decommissioning it was approximately $186 million.
- LILCO received the largest financial penalty imposed by the New York State Public Service Commission against a utility ”“ $1.4 billion ”“ for defective construction and mismanagement of the Shoreham plant.
According to LIPA”™s website, the Shoreham plant, which carries the moniker “America”™s fist stillborn reactor,” “took longer to build, from start to completion, than any other nuclear power plant. If it operated, it would have been the most expensive commercial power plant in the nuclear industry in terms of dollars per kilowatt of capacity.”
Kremer said that once Shoreham was decommissioned, numerous localities and school districts suffered when the plant”™s property value was reassessed.
“The plant became a cash cow for all the local assessors, but eventually they had to pay it back,” he said.
Kremer related that if Indian Point is not relicensed, the same fate could befall Westchester County and local municipalities and school districts that rely on tax revenues generated from the facility.
He said New York AREA, which is a nonprofit group of labor and business interests based in New York City, is advocating for the relicensing of Indian Point by the NRC as long as the plants are deemed safe.
In April 2008, LIPA formed the Shoreham Advisory Committee to determine the best use of the 58 acres that once housed the Shoreham plant.
Kremer said a number of plans since then have failed and no definitive proposals are moving forward at this time.
