by Linda A. DeStefano
How many more lives must be sacrificed before the world moves urgently away from nuclear energy? In New York, there are some hopeful developments in that Gov. Andrew Cuomo and many other government leaders want to shut down the Indian Point nuclear facility near New York City.
Upstate New York hasn’t seen such leadership from politicians. Of the six nuclear reactors in the state, two are at Indian Point and four are upstate. All four are next to Lake Ontario. There is Ginna near Sodus Point in Wayne County. The closest large city, Rochester, is 20 miles away. At Scriba in Oswego County, there are Nine Mile 1, Nine Mile 2 and FitzPatrick. The closest large city, Syracuse, is 36 miles away.
More than 900,000 people live within 50 miles of the nuclear facilities at Scriba. When a fourth nuclear plant was proposed for Scriba, the politicians from Oswego County and the state representatives from that area rolled out the red carpet. This proposal is now on hold.
Problems with the upstate reactors are many. As recently as Jan. 26, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) cited Entergy, operator of FitzPatrick, for willingly exposing workers to radiation and then covering it up. But the violations have been going on for years.
Ginna and Nine Mile 1 are two of the nation’s oldest reactors. The NRC re-licensed them, meaning they are operating many years beyond the capacity for which they were designed. In 2011, the Associated Press, after investigating the nuclear industry for a year, reported widespread degradation of old nuclear facilities. Problems included cracking of tubes, concrete and nozzles; failed cables; and leaky valves. Some years ago, Nine Mile 1 had a severe crack in its core shroud, which could have led to a meltdown. FitzPatrick is operating with 50% of its control rods (which control nuclear reaction) defective and in danger of fragmenting.
Nine Mile 1 and FitzPatrick have the Mark I design, the same as the facility destroyed by an earthquake and tsunami at Fukushima. The nuclear industry and the NRC have known for years about the fragility of this design but have done little about it. For example, in 1972, Dr. Stephen Hanauer, an AtomicEnergy Commission safety official, recommended that the suppression system be discontinued and any further designs not be accepted for construction permits. Shortly thereafter, three General Electric nuclear engineers publicly resigned their prestigious positions citing dangerous shortcomings in the GE design.
In l986, Harold Denton, then the NRC’s top safety official, told an industry trade group that the “Mark I containment ... you’ll find something like a 90% probability of that containment failing.” Ignoring these warnings, the NRC allows these reactors to stay open. A severe ice and snow storm in Oswego County could cut off electricity to Nine Mile 1 and FitzPatrick, leading to a disaster similar to Fukushima.
Another dilemma related to the decrepitude of the reactors is that spent nuclear fuel rods have been stored onsite so long that they pose a monumental danger. Spent fuel remains highly radioactive and continues to generate heat even after it’s removed from the reactor.
The pools of water which keep the rods from overheating rely on electricity to pump water, but have just a short-lived backup system of generators and batteries. The larger the number of rods stored, the greater the amount of radioactivity released if the rods meltdown.
The Atlantic Chapter has been active in working for the shutdown of Indian Point. Hopefully, the Chapter will broaden that concern by campaigning for the accelerated closure of the Upstate nuclear facilities as well. A coalition working for this is Alliance for a Green Economy (AGREE).
Here’s its mission statement:
“AGREE works for safe, affordable energy and the development of a green economy in New York State. Our goal is a prosperous, safe, and healthy New York, fulfilling the promise of conservation, energy efficiency, and safe, clean renewable energy sources to end our state’s reliance on wasteful and environmentally destructive forms of energy...”
AGREE is seeking funding for a study to show how this nuclear-free, carbon-free transition could take place by 2050 in New York.
For further information, I recommend a fact sheet from the Citizens Environmental Coalition, “Dangers of New York’s Nuclear Reactors: Our Safety At Risk!” You may download it here. Also visit the Atlantic Chapter's Nuclear Website.
If you prefer hard copy, contact me at 5031 Onondaga Road, Syracuse 13215-1403, or 315-488-2140 or
LDESTEFANO3@ twcny.rr.com