New York Denies Indian Point a Water Permit

[cali]

Keith Myers/The New York Times

New York State has denied a water-quality certification sought by the Indian Point plant's owner.
By DAVID M. HALBFINGER
Published: April 3, 2010

In a major victory for environmental advocates, New York State has ruled that outmoded cooling technology at the Indian Point nuclear power plant kills so many Hudson River fish, and consumes and contaminates so much water, that it violates the federal Clean Water Act.

The decision is a blow to the plant’s owner, the Entergy Corporation, which now faces the prospect of having to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to build stadium-size cooling towers, or risk that Indian Point’s two operating reactors — which supply 30 percent of the electricity used by New York City and Westchester County — could be forced to shut down.

Entergy officials said that they were “disappointed” in the ruling and that they might fight it in court. The original federal licenses for the two 1970s-era reactors expire in 2013 and 2015, and a water quality certificate is a prerequisite for a 20-year renewal by the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission. But a prolonged appeal in New York could delay a shutdown, Diane Screnci, a spokeswoman for the commission, said late Saturday.

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http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/04/nyregion/04indian.html

An Entergy spokesman said that converting Indian Point’s cooling system would cost $1.1 billion and would require shutting both reactors down entirely for 42 weeks.

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

1. Good. Let it shut down and have the state/someone create wind turbine farms to replace it.

I live 15 minutes by car from Indian Point and don't trust it in the least.

[stray cat]

2. I live even closer - however 30% of NYC and Westchesters electricity won't be supplied by a windfarm

not with the price of land in Westchester

[Recursion]

6. And 2013 is way too soon to roll out a big grid change like that

What's infuriating is that they should have been planning this out, oh, 20 years ago.

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

7. There are a lot of Catholic church owned properties that are right on the Westchester/Putnam

side of the Hudson. Waterfront property, no less. Maybe a deal could be made? lol!

[LiberalFighter]

3. Would require both reactors to be shut down for 42 weeks?

Is that the best they can do?

[ensho]

4. good - hope they stand firm on this decision

people in that area should start doing some smart thinking and acting about how to acquire electricity without the nuke plant.

[SidDithers]

5. They'll get it by burning more coal...nt

Sid