ML12258A243

Limited Appearance Statement of Salvatore Fanara Opposing Indian Point, Units 2 and 3 License Renewal Application

ML12258A243
Person / Time
Site:	Indian Point
Issue date:	09/13/2012
From:	Fanara S - No Known Affiliation
To:	Siarnacki A NRC/SECY/RAS
SECY RAS
References
50-247-LR, 50-286-LR, ASLBP 07-858-03-LR-BD01, RAS E-885
Download: ML12258A243 (3)

Text

r Docket, Hearing BA-S L -"5 From: sf.activism [sf.activism@gmail.com]

Sent: Thursday, September 13, 2012 6:05 AM To: Docket, Hearing; Siarnacki, Anne

Subject:

Objections to new Indian Point licenses/Relicensing

Dear NRC,

Anne Siarnacki, I write you here to express my concerns about new Indian Point licenses/Relicensing and to let you know that I believe Indian Point Energy Center shutdown has been already long overdue so not to push New Yorkers' luck any longer.

Over 40 years old technology has gone as far as it could and produced the amount to radioactive waste that we're left to deal with. The promise of sustainability of such technology was an ill advised conception and a de-facto chimera.

While I do understand families and communities are trying to put it in a positive light the power plant since much of their livelihood today depends on it, that false sense of safety is also derived from the years of "safe operation" (or better said luck given we now now about the Ramapo fault) that is merely a skewed perception rather than a reality. In addition to that having generated the amount to radioactive waste that now needs to be taken care of, the real costs of that safety are only starting to be put in the right perspective with huge amounts of funds being directed to finding solutions to manage the nation's nuclear waste.

As mentioned above and nuclear waste issues aside, there is a very pressing and worrisome piece of information which is the previously unknown active seismic zone known as Ramapo fault, passing under the plant at a distance of less than a mile north of the plant. If that combined with the nuclear waste and the 40 years of operation with a design basically replicating TEPCO's Fukushima plant, won't be able to convey in a clear manner that we have been in a situation of very high danger which has now become self evident and calls for immediate action with the utmost urgency, then I really don't know what else could make a compelling argument in favor of the shutdown of Indian Point nuclear power plant!

The plant was built 40 years ago to withstand a 6.1 earthquake and that was assuming it had been built in no/low risk area which made the possibility of a quake of such intensity quite remote. With the new learning and knowing the structure has been in operation for 4 decades, do New Yorkers and surrounding states really feel like they should push their luck? Do we really need to wait until a catastrophic event will cause irreparable damages like or greater than that of Chernobyl or Fukushima?

We are not talking about a fire, an explosion or a chemical contamination that will be devastating and costly to cleanup and last a few decades, we are talking about 0 3 1

radioactivity contamination that will most certainly make the areas around Indian Point inhabitable for hundreds of years in a radius of hundreds of miles. And to that must be added the additional contamination that cleanups like the insanity taking place in Kitakyushu (Japan) where not only radioactive debris is being transported to non contaminated areas (which will contaminate areas along the route too!), but that debris is being mixed with non contaminated materials to meet the per-pound radioactivity requirements to then be able to incinerate it creating radioactivity airborne contamination up to 25% and additional radioactivity release through water soluble caesium-137 and other isotopes that will travel into the ground via water contaminating soil and aquifers.

Even without a catastrophe, we have learned enough today not to be so naive and believe that technology like that present at Indian Point based on an obsolete design that would be absurd and uneconomical to maintain, are form of power generation to continue to pursue.

Promoting alternative form of energy production, conservation, efficiency and responsible consumption will be key in a new nuclear-free paradigm. Photovoltaic, Thermo Solar and Wind, could be even more viable by perfecting their efficiency and by adding diversification by implementing a mix of centralized and decentralized smart grids, where increasing number of energy-independent homes and industrial facilities would allow a much more efficient use of energy. In addition to that approach, dramatically boosting research to perfect harvesting updraft solar, wave, tidal energy, OTEC and other energy production methods could bring about energy independence for real, which could be already a reality if only more would people and politicians would have had the courage to transition in that direction.

After all we are blessed with a beautiful country where all of this would be possible and we would lead the way in removing all nuclear fission plants in US. But in the specific case of NYC we have the a resource like the ocean a stone throw away and although we are nowhere a match for the deserts in the South and West coast, we have a very respectable exposure to sunlight as well as a quite usable amount of wind energy too. It's simply irresponsible to not go in that direction when today we absolutely could and with very reduced costs if policies were in place to that effect (which aren't yet or I would not be here writing this letter to you).

I do not really care how safe the resident and people who work at Indian Point feel, I can't stress enough we have been really lucky (remember the recent quake in Washington? My building in Brooklyn was waving side to side by at least 2 inches that was scaring enough on its own! Thinking that such quake a few miles north could cause a Fukushima situation for NY and surrounding states it's simply not a reality we should not and need not to be dealing with.

For the fellow New Yorkers who live and work in nuclear related economy, not only their skills could be put to better use in pursuing alternative energy research and production, but the shut down, cleanup, storage an monitor of the amount of spent fuel produced will ensure work for 2 or even 3 generations to come. Pushing our luck I don't know if those generations will have any future at all.

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In all honesty although I am not in an age group where I could expect to be "decommissioned" from this existence within a few years or a decade (at least statistically since I am aware I could be gone as soon as done with this letter), I continue to not understand why anyone would be so irresponsible to persevere in the insanity of gambling with the lives of so many on this planet just for economic gain.., that's real madness if not pure evil in my opinion. And since I have no offspring I should even care less... once I am gone I will live "none of my own" to suffer the consequences of humanity's madness... but for that I would have to not care about life itself and that I can't do unfortunately for me and you who will be reading this letter.

So to conclude something that is already become more long winded than initially wished to be, please shut down Indian Point immediately, but do so following up with appropriate plan in place to employ the local community in the shutdown and cleanup process as well as in aiming to re-engineering the energy sources of the future.

Thank you for you time and attention Sincerely, Salvatore Fanara DOCKETED USNRC September 13, 2012 (8:00 a.m.)

OFFCE OF SECRETARY RULEMAKINGS AND ADJUDICATIONS STAFF 3