In a raucous meeting punctuated with sing-alongs and rude comments Wednesday night, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission maintained its stance that Indian Point Energy Center is being operated safely.
The meeting, attended by hundreds who sported matching T-shirts, hats, signs and other insignia affiliating them for or against the Buchanan-based power plant, ran over its 2-hour time slot due to the influx of people looking to address the NRC panel.
The meeting was held at the Westchester Marriott in Tarrytown and began with NRC officials addressing a special investigation conducted earlier this week after water leaked into an electrical supply room following a transformer failure. The failure, the cause of which is still being investigated by Indian Point”™s owner Entergy Corp., resulted in the transformer rupturing and igniting two fires that activated overhead sprinklers and forcing the Unit 3 reactor to shut down. A report on the transformer failure is expected by the end of June.
“We sent the special inspection team out to the site to find out how the water got into that room, what, if any, potential effects it would have on that equipment if there had been a larger amount of water, and also to find out what Entergy is doing to fix the problem,” said Arthur L. Burritt, NRC chief of the Division of Reactor Projects.
At least five elected officials or their representatives addressed the panel, most of whom expressed concerns about the plant”™s threat to their communities.
Paul Feiner, Greenburgh town supervisor, raised many safety concerns he has about Indian Point”™s ability to deal with emergencies.
“I”™ve been town supervisor of Greenburgh for 24 years. I have no idea what I”™d do if there”™d be a evacuation or an Indian Point meltdown and I don”™t think anybody in Westchester County knows for sure what they would do,” he said about what he perceives as inadequate evacuation plans.
Bernadette Kelly, the international representative for Teamsters Local 456 union, spoke for many Indian Point workers who she said have confidence in the plant enough to work and live in the community and receive extensive job training.
“Teamster members know that safety is the highest priority at Indian Point and if we had any doubt about that we would simply not work there, let alone live near it,” she said. “As the recent events show us, they are ready for any situation that occurs.”
Many residents also voiced concerns about the close proximity of a natural gas pipeline that was recently approved by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to be built and expanded just over 1,000 feet from Indian Point.
Ling Tsou, a resident of New York City and a co-founder of United for Action, called the move to allow a “potentially explosive” pipeline so close to the power plant “irresponsible.”
