Dive Summary:
- Formal hearing dates in front of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) have been set for October 15th through at least December on Entergy's 20-year license renewal application for their nuclear power plant at Indian Point, just 40 miles north of Manhattan.
- A water permit for the plant, licensure that is require for the NRC to rule on the renewal, is currently before an administrative law judge at the NY State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) after having been rejected by the DEC on the grounds that Entergy must invest in a closed-loop cooling system to prevent destroying the Hudson River's ecosystem.
- While the NRC typically takes two years to rule on a renewal and has approved 73 applications without rejecting a single one, Entergy applied for their controversial renewal in 2007 and faces opposition from Governor Andrew Cuomo, who has made it a priority to close the plant.
From the article:
"A three-judge panel of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission will start hearings Oct. 15 on challenges to the license renewal application for Entergy Corp's Indian Point nuclear power plant north of New York City.
Entergy, one of the biggest U.S. nuclear power operators, wants to keep the two reactors at Indian Point running for another 20 years after their licenses expire in 2013 and 2015.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo opposes license renewal, largely because of the plant's location near a metropolitan area that is home to 19 million people. An accident at the plant - no matter how unlikely - could be disastrous, according to Cuomo. ..."
