BY PAUL DeRIENZO | Indian Point, the nuclear power plant located 40 miles north of the city on the Hudson River near Buchanan, experienced its seventh malfunction since May a few weeks ago.
Radioactive water reportedly leaked when a drain overflowed during a drill. Entergy, which owns the plant, first collected samples showing elevated levels of tritium in late January. Governor Cuomo announced the finding on Saturday. Tritium is a radioactive form of hydrogen created in nuclear plants.
Entergy reported the tritium was discovered in three of more than 30 on-site wells. The wells had been drilled in response to a leak of tritium and the more dangerous strontium-90 into the Hudson River in 2005. There have been numerous tritium leaks at Indian Point, but this is considered the worst. There have also been similar leaks at the fleet of aging nuclear plants across the country.
The environmental watchdog group Riverkeeper called for closure of Indian Point in response to the latest incident. Paul Gallay, president of Riverkeeper, said on Sunday that there have been too many malfunctions at the plant.
“The stakes are just too high,” he said, adding, “The next one could be a catastrophe.”
Jerry Nappi, a spokesperson for Entergy, responded, “There is zero consequence to public health or safety as a result of this matter. Therefore, statements calling for the plants to close do not make any sense.”
Entergy has been pursuing a 20-year license extension for the two Indian Point reactors, which are currently operating beyond their original 40-year license.
Governor Cuomo has been demanding Indian Point be closed since 2001. His father, Mario, was responsible for the closure in 1986 of a nuclear plant built at Shoreham, Long Island, before that plant even began producing electricity.
Utilities tend to want plants built close to customers, saving millions of dollars on transmission costs. But the governor has stated that he wants New York’s more-remote nuclear plants along the shore of Lake Ontario to stay and those near the city closed. The final decision rests with federal regulators and not state officials.
“This is not the first such release of radioactive water at Indian Point, nor is this the first time that Indian Point has experienced significant failure in its operation and maintenance,” Cuomo said in a letter to the state Department of Environmental Conservation.
The deadline for a preliminary investigation into the plant’s operation ordered by Cuomo has been set for Feb. 15.
According to Entergy, none of the radioactive contamination has migrated off-site. Tritium, while potentially dangerous if ingested, does not share the same affinity for bones and organs as contaminants like strontium and cesium, which can cause bone cancer and leukemia. Drinking water in Westchester and New York City originates in reservoirs in the mountains Upstate, far from Indian Point, and is not in any danger from the leak.
