June 4, 2013
The position of “Shut Down Indian Point Now” is that the Indian Pt. facility can be shut down in a matter of months. On average, only 4-6% of NYC’s electricity is generated from the IP facility and that the existing grid is sufficient to take up the slack without any major upgrade of the grid right now. In fact, due to repairs and weather events, IP has been shut down without any interruption, black outs or brown outs . Certain regions upstate may need a little more time to adjust to the shut down of IP but electricity input from other grids in the US and Canada can meet NY State’s electrical needs. Our position is also the conclusion reached by the NY State Assembly Committee on Energy and Corporations in 2012. To allow this ageing 40 year facility, a ticking time bomb, located on earthquake faults and cited by the US Geologic Survey as having the highest risk of core damage from an earthquake in the entire nation, to continue operating is to put the entire Northeast and even the entire nation in grave danger. The only explanation is that the owners of the nuclear power industry are blinded by their huge profits, profits buttressed by billions in public subsidies and exempted from law suits in case of a disaster; subsidies that should be used to develop clean, sustainable solar, wind, wave and geothermal energy. Although the governor and several NY political office holders have called for IP’s closure, one has to wonder why they have not made this a top priority and mobilized the citizenry to pressure the Obama administration (which supports nuclear energy) to change its policy.
Tom Siracuse
Chair of SDIPN
Feb. 27, 2012
The apologists for the nuclear power industry claim that nuclear power is clean and safe and that in today’s world of growing energy needs and the problems of depending on foreigfn oil, we need nuclear power. Tell the millions of people who will be adversely affected for generations by the Chernobyl and Fukushima disasters that nuclear power is clean and safe. These apologists will counter by saying thatnuclear power plants can be upgraded or built to make trhem safe and besides what chances are there for a severe earthquake and a tsunami? The reality is that NO nuclear power can b e made safe from either human error (Chernobyl), from a natural disaster (Fukushima) or a terrorist attack. Entergy, owner of the Indian Point plant, also claims its plant is safe but it is on two earthquake faults and the U.S.Geologic Service cites Indian Point as having the greatest risk of a meltdown of all U.S. nuclear plants! Entergy claims that it supplies NY with 25% of its electricity and that closing its plant would cause blackouts and economic hardship to the area around the plant. Recently, the NYS Assembly Copmmittee on Energy and Corporations rejected these claims as unsubstianted. The only hardship caused would be to the nuclear power industry that makes huge profits from selling nuclear power. The industry, however, is dependent on billions of dollars of government to subsidies to build the plants and exempt them from paying the damages to the people affected in case of meltdowns. Wall Street won’t go near nuclear plant construction investment. If this public subsidy were used for really clean and safe enegy such as solar, wind and wave, we would be on our way to a saving the earth from both a nuclear and environmental disaster. So why does the Obama administration as well as the Republican “opposition” want to start building new nuclear plants after a 34 year hiatus and why do they want to increase U.S. investment in dirty oil, gas and coal? Is it because the nuclear and fossil fuel industries contribute huge amounts to these corporate/Wall Street parties?
Tom Siracuse
Chair of the Manhattan Local of the Green Party
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