NYC rally seeks to shut nuclear plant

About 350 people rallied in midtown Manhattan Thursday evening to call for shutting down the Indian Point nuclear power plant and to demand clean, safe alternatives to supply power to New Yorkers.

Among them was Maureen Ritter, 53, who lives 13 miles away from the plant with her husband and two children -- and is scared to death of it. "This is not a political issue," she said. "It's a public safety issue." She fears that evacuation plans in case of a meltdown are inadequate and is not convinced the plant's radioactive waste is being properly disposed of, she said.

"We need to learn from Chernobyl, and now Fukushima," she said, referring to the Japanese plant that had a near meltdown after the March earthquake and tsunami.

The two reactors in Buchanan, 35 miles up the Hudson River from midtown, provide about a quarter of the power used in New York City and Westchester County. The plant began operating in the 1970s, and licenses for the two reactors are set to expire in 2013 and 2015.

Phillip Musegaas, 48, director of Hudson River Project, said at least a billion marine life specimens, including fish, were killed annually by the 2.5 billion gallons of water that the plant dumps into the river daily. Indian Point must install a new cooling system to meet state requirements, Musegaas said.

But Jim Steets, communications director for Entergy, which operates Indian Point, said the plant meets the state's water quality and thermal water temperature standards. "Right now, we know there is minimal impact on the fish and the thermal discharges into the river," Steets said.

At an October public hearing in Albany, dozens of environmental groups, including Riverkeeper, Greenpeace and the New York Public Interest Research Group, are expected to provide data showing that water used to cool the reactors pollutes the Hudson River, Musegaas said.

Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-Manhattan) criticized the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission for having too cozy a relationship with the companies it is supposed to be monitoring.

"The struggle to close Indian Point is a struggle for common sense," he said. "We stopped Shoreham on Long Island and we can do it on Indian Point."

Another issue that opponents say make the plant unsafe is that Indian Point can generate its own electrical power for three to four days during a power outage. They point to Fukushima, Japan, where nuclear plant operators could not generate the power needed to cool radioactive water for at least three weeks after the March earthquake and tsunami damaged the reactors.Over the years, Steets said Indian Point had upgraded its infrastructure and backup diesel generators. These will keep the plant operating and cooldown radioactive water in the event of a power outage, he said.

With AP