Spano said on Monday Jan. 15 that he wanted an independent monitor appointed to oversee safety operations at Indian Point 2, which was shut down in February 2000 due to leaks and restarted on Jan. 3, 2001. The county executive also said he was going to study legal options including a suit geared to shutting the facility down until it is deemed safe.
A story published in the Jan. 14 edition of The Journal News prompted Spano to call for such drastic measures to be taken at Indian Point 2. The story charged that Con Edison was in a rush to restart the facility and that the NRC relied on what Con Edsion told them and did not properly oversee the operation.
Con Edison issued a prepared response stating, "It is unfortunate that a report published in yesterday's Journal News reported inaccuracies and drew factually incorrect conclusions. The article implied that the plant is not under the oversight of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. This is simply not true and we have asked the Journal News to print a correction. IP2 operations are monitored and regulated by the NRC inspectors stationed at the plant and are supplemented by many other inspectors..."
In relation to the county executive's criticism, Con Edison noted in its statement, "The safe operation of Indian Point 2 is clearly the responsibility of the company and it is a responsibility we take seriously. The safe operation of IP2 is our number one priority. We operate the plant toward an industry standard of excellence and all internal reviews and self-critical reports are conducted to that standard. Protecting the health and safety of our 800 workers, the community and the environment is our top priority."
Neil Sheehan, a spokesman for the NRC, says the agency has logged more than 3,000 man-hours inspecting Indian Point 2 since the plant shutdown in February. He said that the inspection time at Indian Point 2 in the past 11 months was double that of a normal nuclear facility that had no operating problems. Yesterday, Tuesday Jan. 16, the NRC brought approximately 16 inspectors to begin a three-week on-site inspection of Indian Point 2. Normally, the NRC has two, resident on-site inspectors housed at Indian Point 2.
"That I believe shows our commitment to ensuring the safe operation of Indian Point 2," he says. He concurs with comments made by NRC regional administrator Hubert Miller, who stated in the Journal News article that the NRC's function is to audit a plant's operations.
Sheehan, who stresses that the agency's mission is to ensure the safety of the nation's 103 nuclear power plants, said that the agency employs 3,000 workers and does "the best job possible with the amount of resources we have."
He continues, "You do the math, we can't have a cop on every corner," he notes. However, if the NRC sees that the performance of a nuclear facility is slipping, it will bring resources on-site to ensure the facility is run properly.
The Indian Point 2 plant, which is under contract to be sold to Entergy Corp., is now running at approximately 45% capacity, according to a Con Ed spokesman.
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John Jordan
John Jordan is a veteran journalist with 36 years of print and digital media experience.
