![]() The UN has reported that radiation doses received among much of the public are unlikely to create discernible increases in most cancers, with the exception of thyroid cancer. Yet Chernobyl was less lethal than commonly believed. One of the plant’s Soviet-designed RBMK-1000 reactors exploded, releasing radiation into the atmosphere for ten days and exposing millions of people to the invisible pollutant. The nuclear disaster at the Chernobyl nuclear plant in 1986 is the worst in the history of nuclear energy. Yet even if Indian Point suffered a meltdown due to an earthquake or human error, the three most relevant examples of nuclear accidents in civilian nuclear energy don’t support the conclusion that Indian Point threatened New York City. None of this guarantees, of course, that a worst-case scenario could not happen. It safely reopened within a few months after a thorough NRC inspection. The North Anna plant in Virginia was struck by a 5.8 magnitude earthquake in 2011 that led to more ground acceleration than the plant was designed to endure, yet the plant suffered no significant damage. The NRC revisited this conclusion in 2009 and conducted a complementary review after Fukushima and reconfirmed it: Indian Point was realistically earthquake-proof.Įven when an earthquake’s impact exceeds what a plant is built for, that doesn’t necessarily mean a meltdown will occur. reactors, held 18 months of administrative proceedings and concluded that the plant was designed to tolerate even the most severe earthquake that could hit the area. When Indian Point was originally licensed, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which ensures the safety of all U.S. The fear of a natural disaster-in this case, an earthquake-sending radiation to the Big Apple is understandable, but the Hudson River Valley does not experience cataclysmic earthquakes like the one that caused the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan in 2011, and reactors like Indian Point are designed to withstand, and often do withstand, some seismic activity. The state’s other three operating nuclear plants, which he did not attempt to close, are located in rural areas near Lake Ontario. Cuomo’s top concern was the proximity of Indian Point to New York City. Nuclear plants provide more jobs per unit of energy generated than any other power source and pay 30 percent higher salaries than the local average. Indian Point directly employed 1,000 people the promised positions from renewable energy and energy efficiency have not materialized. ![]() Pledges made to workers of “new, well-paying jobs in the region” didn’t pan out, either. This result was predictable: nearly everywhere nuclear plants are shut down, fossil-fuel use rises. New York’s natural gas generation jumped from 35 percent to 39 percent, triggering new gas generation downstate. In the first full month after closure, New York’s carbon emissions from in-state generation rose 35 percent. Indian Point was mostly replaced with natural gas, not renewables. It’s striking to consider the many ways in which supporters of the move were wrong. Claims of environmental harm fall apart upon examination, while dreams of replacing Indian Point’s nuclear power with solar, wind, efficiency gains, and Canadian hydropower haven’t become reality. Yet the closure of Indian Point was a serious mistake. Advocates claimed that strontium leaking from the plant was found in local fish, said that the plant’s thermal cooling structure killed 2 million fish annually, and criticized its once-through cooling system for consuming, heating, and discharging up to 2.5 billion gallons of water per day. Much of the environmental movement backed Cuomo, with Hudson River protection organization Riverkeeper joining the decommissioning negotiations and citing the numerous radioactive isotopes emitted from Indian Point as a key reason for the plant’s closure. ![]() Environmentalists asserted that the plant was polluting the river. New York’s then-governor, Andrew Cuomo, touted the shutdown as a major victory for state residents, “ending the threat the plant has long-posed to an area that is vitally important to our state, the nation, and the world.”Ĭuomo believed that Indian Point, located within 50 miles of New York City, would not be able to withstand earthquakes that it could suffer meltdowns like those at Chernobyl, Fukushima, or Three Mile Island and that it could be sabotaged by terrorists. This final closure (the plant’s first reactor was shuttered in 1974, the second in 2020) brought to an end a decades-long saga over the 2,000-megawatt behemoth on the Hudson River. Two years ago, on April 30, 2021, the final reactor at New York’s Indian Point nuclear power plant ceased operation.
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