Tighten Relicensing Criteria for Indian Point

[Guest guest]

(Please circulate widely!)

Emergency Planning Issues & the Relicensing of Indian Point

Current Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) relicensing criteria do not take

into account changes in population density, infrastructure, security risks,

and the onsite storage of high-level radioactive waste accumulating at

nuclear plants. A bi-partisan coalition of U.S. Representatives including John

Hall (D-NY), Eliot Engel (D-NY), Maurice Hinchey (D-NY), Nita Lowey (D-NY), and

Christopher Shays (R-CT) has introduced _legislation _

(http://riverkeeper.org/campaign.php/indianpoint_risks/the_facts/1329) that

would require the NRC to

address emergency planning issues at Indian Point before a decision is made

to grant a twenty-year license extension.

_Tell _ (http://ga1.org/campaign/no_new_license) the NRC that emergency

planning issues need to be addressed in Indian Point's relicensing process.

On April 30, 2007 Entergy submitted an application to the Nuclear

Regulatory Commission (NRC) to extend Indian Point's operating licenses for

another

twenty years. The two reactors are over thirty years old. As their safety

problems continue to escalate, there is still no workable emergency evacuation

plan for 300,000 residents living within the 10-mile radius of Indian Point and

no evacuation plan for those living outside the 10-mile radius, including

over 8.5 million NYC residents. Currently, the NRC does not take emergency

planning issues, increases in population density, and infrastructure into

consideration when determining whether a nuclear power plant should be

relicensed.

The NRC is failing the public by not taking the findings of the Witt Report

into serious consideration in determining whether Indian Point should operate

for an additional 20 years. _Let _ (http://ga1.org/campaign/no_new_license)

them know you want Witt’s concerns addressed before it’s too late!

Riverkeeper will hand-deliver a copy of your letter to the NRC at the July 2007

public meeting on Indian Point’s relicensing application.

Congress Takes Action

On May 3, 2007 Congresswoman Nita Lowey (D-NY) introduced the _Nuclear

Power Licensing Reform Act of 2007_

(http://riverkeeper.org/campaign.php/indianpoint_relicensing/the_facts/1276) .

Joined by Congressman John Hall (D-NY) and

Congressman Maurice Hinchey (D-NY), Lowey's legislation would require the NRC

to consider security vulnerabilities as well as the viability of evacuation

plans for the population living within 50 miles of a nuclear power plant. It

would also require that any license renewal meet the same criteria an initial

application would have to meet.

Specifically, it would:

 

• Make clear that any licensing, including initial licensing, must include a

determination that the facility does not pose an unreasonable threat to

persons or the environment because of safety or security vulnerabilities,

including vulnerability to terrorist attacks;

• Require that there exist adequate evacuation plans for emergency events

and that those plans have been approved by the relevant Federal agencies and

States within 50 miles of the facility;

• Require that any renewed license must meet the same criteria and

requirements that would be applicable for an original application for initial

construction; and

• Require the NRC to determine that any changes in the size or distribution

of the surrounding population have not resulted in the facility being located

at a site at which a new facility would not be allowed to be built.

 

Congresswoman Lowey originally introduced this legislation in the 109th

Congress.

_Take Action_ (http://ga1.org/campaign/no_new_license)

Click _here _ (http://ga1.org/campaign/no_new_license) to send a fax to

Chairman Dale Klein of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, requesting that the

NRC

in the relicensing process for Indian Point, provide the public and elected

officials with a comprehensive, detailed response to all of Witt's findings as

called for in federal legislation proposed in the U.S. House (649) sponsored

by Representatives Hall, Hinchey, Lowey, Engel, and Shays, and U.S. Senate

(994) sponsored by Senators Clinton and Schumer. This legislation is also

supported by New York Governor Eliot Spitzer.

 

For more information on Riverkeeper’s Indian Point Campaign, visit

_http://riverkeeper.org/campaign.php/indian_point_

(http://riverkeeper.org/campaign.php/indian_point)

Lisa Rainwater, PhD

Indian Point Campaign Director

Riverkeeper, Inc.

828 S. Broadway

Tarrytown, NY 10591

P: 914-478-4501 x. 221

F: 914-478-4527

_www.riverkeeper.org_ (http://www.riverkeeper.org/)

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