Riverkeeper Calls For Shutdown Of Indian Point In NRC Filing
BUCHANAN, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) - Thursday marked yet another call for the shutdown of the Indian Point nuclear power facility in Westchester County, citing possible danger to the area.
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The plant is roughly 40 miles north of New York City.
"This petition seeks the permanent shutdown of Indian Point," said Riverkeeper staff attorney Deborah Brancato of the drastic remedy that the organization is asking for in its filing with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Brancato says the possibility exists for a Fukushima-style meltdown in Buchanan.
"In the event of a meltdown accident scenario, the plant would be incapable of adequately handling the build up of hydrogen," she said Thursday.
The resulting hydrogen explosion, she said, could send radioactivity streaming from the plant as far as the George Washington Bridge, posing an extreme hazard to millions of people.
An Entergy spokesman told WCBS 880 that the plant does have recombiners that remove hydrogen and would prevent any explosion.
The NRC will consider this filing separately from the 20-year re-authorization Entergy is now seeking for the plant.
