Indian Point Event Energized Civic Discussion

Emergency preparedness, seismic threat and spent fuel storage were among the core issues discussed at a Tuesday forum at Fox Lane High School addressing community concerns about nearby Indian Point Energy Center amidst fallout from the recent Japanese nuclear disaster.

The event, co-sponsored by the Bedford Central School District and Bedford 2020, saw some 70+ in attendance and featured a panel discussion moderated by local environmentalist Danny Martin, engaging a balanced exchange he hoped would “provide a glimmer of collective wisdom and develop a new model for civic conversation.”

School Superintendant Jere Hochman introduced Bedford 2020’s Diane Lewis, who offered opening remarks before abdicating the microphone to Martin’s mellifluous Belfast brogue to introduce the six panelists, representing youth, educational, political, environmental, religious and energy industry interests within the community.

“We will not vilify or glorify nuclear power,” said Lewis, a one-time organic farmer who heads the community coalition’s water and land use task force.  “Our intention here is for all members of the community to become informed to make decisions.”

Representatives from both the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and Entergy Corporation (the facility’s operator) were invited to participate, though declined in favor of providing written statements.

Despite ongoing debate to close the Buchanan plant, the tone of the event was overwhelmingly objective, equally exploring not only the extreme possible price of keeping it open but also the conceivably greater costs of closing it.

Michael Kaplowitz (D-Somers), who chairs the Westchester County Legislators Committee on Energy, expressed concerns over the conditions of spent fuel storage on the site, which he visited personally and called a “sitting time bomb for all of us in the region.”

Maintaining he was neither pro nor anti-nuclear, he also criticized federal legislators for citing “hypotheticals” in claiming a 10-mile evacuation zone was sufficient for American plants while urging Japanese officials for a 50-mile zone around the crippled Fukushima Dai-Ichi facility.  He furnished a map showing concentric circles for both 10 and 50-mile radius from Indian Point, explaining how the latter encompassed some 20 million people across New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Pennsylvania.

Kaplowitz lauded having the opportunity to “plan, not panic” and called to repower the plant with an alternative fuel source—something he believes is firmly within our reach.

“If my colleagues and I had enough hot air, we would head up there and drive a turbine for you, but we don’t,” he jested.

Similar concerns over spent fuel storage were mirrored by fellow panelist Phillip Musegaas of Katonah, who spoke on behalf of the conservationist group Riverkeeper—perhaps the plant’s most vehement opponent.

“The spent nuclear fuel rods are in normal industrial buildings with a ¾” corrugated roof, not inside the cement containment dome,” Musegaas said.  “Our concern is a [possible] loss of power to the grid to cool fuel storage pools.”

Such concerns, however, were countered by John Kelly, an Indian Point veteran who made a three-decade career at the plant and lives less than four miles from the plant across the Hudson River.  While confirming the waste pools were in fact housed in so-called “secondary containment” buildings, he differentiated them from the design of Fukushima Dai-Ichi and explained how the waste fuel storage arrangement was drastically different.

“In a boiling water reactor [such as Fukushima], you put the spent fuel high up in the building to allow for easy transfer from the reactor vessel to the, so they’re on top of the concrete structures at high elevation,” he said.

He added that Indian Point’s spent fuel pools are built on bedrock at a lower and more accessible location, and thereby a “fire hose with a fog nozzle draped over the side of the pool” would facilitate necessary cooling in the event they suddenly drained.

Other panelists included Rev. Melissa Boyer of Katonah United Methodist Church, Robert Whelan of Rippowam-Cisqua School, and Vinnie Maggio, an AP Environmental Science student at Fox Lane, who provided the “young voice” of the event.

“I happen to be a fan of nuclear power, but I think Japan was a poor place for it,” said Maggio.  “We also have this sort of revolving door effect.  The regulatory committees are comprised of those who worked in the industry for a long time and side with the companies they worked for.”

Moderator Martin briefly surrendered center stage to Tom Bregman of the Energize Bedford campaign, then returned and opened the floor to the audience.

Feedback was constructively critical.

“I feel one person lacking from the panel was a doctor,” said Laurie Evans of Golden’s Bridge, citing her work with a study that collected and studied baby teeth for radioactive elements in communities surrounding nuclear reactors. “I also called my insurance company and we’re not covered for nuclear disaster.  They need to change wording from “evacuation” to “Permanent relocation,” because we can’t come back.”

Opinions aside, the event proved the collective power of a community to share ideas on sensitive issues in hopes of eventual resolve.

“If there’s a time when civic conversation is needed, it’s now,” remarked Martin.  "A whisper of collective wisdom is the grace of the world."

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