New York City’s Deadly Game of Nuclear Roulette

[bananas]

http://blogs.forbes.com/williampentland/2011/04/16/new-york-citys-deadly-game-of-nuclear-roulette/

New York City’s Deadly Game of Nuclear Roulette
Apr. 16 2011
By WILLIAM PENTLAND

“Of all the places in all the world where no one in their right mind would build scores of nuclear power plants, Japan would be pretty near the top of the list,” concluded Leuren Moret, a radiation specialist trained at the Lawrence Livermore Nuclear Weapons Laboratory in Berkeley, Calif., in an op-ed piece that appeared in The Japan Times in 2004.

One of the other places that may rank near the top of that list: New York City.

A growing number of scientists and emergency planners are calling on federal and state regulators to shut down the Indian Point nuclear reactor about 40 miles north of New York City, on the Hudson River in Buchanan, New York. While many of Indian Point’s critics have expressed concerns about safety at the nuclear plant for years, the nuclear crisis in Japan has caused their ranks to swell over the past several weeks.

<snip>

A month before the 9.0 magnitude earthquake in Japan triggered the crisis at the Fukushima nuclear power reactors, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman sued the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) for approving a regulation that would allow radioactive waste to be stored at Indian Point for at least 60 years after closure. Shockingly, the NRC’s new policy would allow the long-term storage of nuclear waste without requiring any review of the potential safety and environmental risks posed by such storage. The lawsuit asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to invalidate the NRC rule for failure to comply with environmental laws.

<snip>

It's time to shut down Indian Point.

[WatsonT]

1. "It's time to shut down Indian Point."

Sure thing, as long as we can shut down power to New York for extended periods of time.

Do they really need to be up and moving around at night? Cut off all power after 10pm.

[jpak]

2. I saw that movie

it was as fictional as your post

yup

[Name removed]

6. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[jpak]

8. You haven't been paying attention - have you

:D

[bananas]

4. You really believe Indian Point will last forever?

It won't last another twenty years - it has to shut down sometime between now and then.
These old plants are in the wear-out phase of their life cycle,
accidents will become more frequent.
Trying to keep this thing running will just increase the likelihood of a major catastrophe.
And now that people understand the danger of spent fuel storage,
there's no sense in making more of it.

Japan's off-shore wind turbines had no problems with the earthquake or tsunami,
NYC is right on the coast with tremendous off-shore wind resources.

[WatsonT]

5. Big difference between "last forever"

and "shut down now".

For instance, I don't plan on living forever, but I would be upset if someone tried to kill me today (I have plans for sunday).

And their off-shore turbines weren't destroyed, but they also weren't able to pick up the slack for the lost reactor.

An invincible windmill that can't supply enough power is less useful than a vulnerable plant that can.

Unless we can convince New Yorkers to turn out the lights more often. But they already printed up all this paraphernalia with "city that never sleeps" on it, so I don't think they'll go for that.

[bananas]

7. Would you play Russian Roulette?

Would you be upset if the gun went off today?

[WatsonT]

11. So every nuclear reactor has a one in six chance of blowing up every day?

Amazing so many of us are alive.

[bananas]

13. Not yet, but they will.

The failure rate increases dramatically in the wear-out phase.
And this is pointed at millions of people.
http://www.weibull.com/hotwire/issue21/hottopics21.htm

[WatsonT]

14. Which is why it was wrong to put a moratorium on building them

we should be building new ones and decommissioning old ones as it comes up.

But simply tearing them all down without realistic alternatives *already in place* will mean blackouts. Annoying for most, but fatal for some.

[CreekDog]

12. like they did in Sacramento after voters shut Rancho Seco?

Oh wait. They never had power outages because that. And they turned it into park land.

For other readers here, if anybody tells you tens of millions have only two choices: risk nuclear catastrophe or lack reliable power... Such people are lying or uninformed.

[reformist2]

3. It'll be shut down - some of the wealthiest people in the US live just downwind of it.

[bananas]

9. New York State goal is 30% renewable electricity by 2015

http://www.nyserda.org/rps/index.asp

[HockeyMom]

10. As in Greenwich?

Oh, yeah!