ML14156A315

Limited Appearance Statement - Letter from J. Capozzelli Regarding Denying Relicensing of Indian Point

ML14156A315
Person / Time
Site:	Indian Point
Issue date:	05/27/2014
From:	- No Known Affiliation
To:
References
Download: ML14156A315 (2)

Text

May 27,2014 U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chairperson Washington, DC 20555-0001 I am writing because the Nuclear Regulatory Commission is holding its annual public meeting about Indian Point's 2013 safety record on June 4. I ask the Commission to follow New York State's lead and deny relicensing of this aging, dangerous nuclear plant.

Three years after the Fukushima disaster, it is deeply disturbing that little or nothing has changed to improve public safety regarding Indian Point.

I join with Riverkeeper and other groups in calling the NRC to account for its failure to address the real safety issues at Indian Point -seismic risk, security violations, evacuation planning, dangerous storage of nuclear waste and other critical issues. These issues must be addressed.

The nuclear reactors at Indian Point are located on the Hudson River about 20 miles north of New York City. They sit about one mile from the intersection oftwo earthquake faults. Indian Point 3 has been identified as the U.S. nuclear reactor most likely to suffer reactor core damage from seismic activity.

There ar~ about 2700 metric tons of high level nuclear waste being stored on-site, most of it in vulnerable fuel pools in warehouse-,type buildings, not containment structures like the reactors themselves. ** .* * * * * * * * * * *

• Indian Point sucks in 2.5 billion gallons of Hudson River water every day and shoots it back into the river about 15 - 20 <hE1greesho~er ~an .w~~~ it went ~n,_ creating a thermal plume that kills millions offishandriver'Iife each year..* , * ' '* * *' * * -.

• The spent fuel pools are leaking radioactive water into the ground and into the Hudson River.

There are 20 million people who live within 50 miles oflndian Point, including everyone in New York City. In 2003, a study found that the Indian Point Emergency Evacuation Plan, was "inadequate to protect the public from an unafceptable dose of radiation."

In 1979, the NRC Director ofthe Offic~ of State Programs, who was in charge of emergency planning for all U.S. nuclear plant~ ~ai<;l, "Indian Point is one ofthe. most inappropriate sites in existence" for a nuclear plant. .,, *-* .. ' ' :' ' . - . ' '. . . ' . . .. . .

Relicensing the reactors is actually issuing a new 20-year license. Under current population and seismic standards, Indian Point could ne.ver be licensed to operate. So a new license should not be issueq. * * * * * * * -*

Page Two The Indian Point nuclear power plant is unique in several ways:

• Indian Point sits in a more densely populated area than any other U.S. plant, with more than 20 million people living within 50 miles.

• The plant sits adjacent and nearby to State designated significant fish and coastal wildlife habitats.

• Since at least the 1990s, radioactive toxins such as tritium and strontium-90 have been leaking from at least two spent fuel pools at Indian Point into the groundwater and the Hudson River. The pools at Indian Point are already compromised and are sure to continue causing environmental impacts in the future. (For example, in January 2007 Strontium-90 was detected in four out of 12 Hudson River fish tested.)

• Parts ofNew York City's drinking water supply, which provides nine million New Yorkers with unfiltered drinking water, are less than 15 miles away from Indian Point.

• Indian Point sits at the intersection of two active earthquake faults; these faults could produce upwards of a 7.0 magnitude earthquake, which Indian Point was not initially built to withstand.

• Indian Point's spent fuel pools, which were never designed to hold the nearly 2,000 tons of toxic waste now stored at the plant, are highly vulnerable to terrorism and accidents.

It is time to permanently close this aging, dangerous nuclear plant.

Yours truly, r-J. Capozzelli 315 West 90th Street New York, NY 10024