On November 15, Macaulay students visited a nuclear power plant facility, Indian Point Energy Center. The day started with breakfast, as usual, and microwaved ramen. Daily reminders of human reliance on electricity sprouted inside and outside of homes. Inside, microwaves, light bulbs, computers, even the heating of water in the radiators needed electricity to function. Outside, electric grids and telephone lines decorated the sidewalks. Cars and ambulances spewed out foul-smelling gas as they zoomed past the hospital. But what would happen to the pace of this community if electricity was wiped out. Would economic and social progress be suspended in motion? Suppose the source of electricity for the U.S. was wiped out someday. Where would that leave us? This is a surprisingly realistic notion that frighteningly few of the public know of. 

In a span of 30-40 years, the oil supply will run out and humans will have to look to other ways to heat their homes and run their cars. Not to mention the alarming rising temperatures from greenhouse gases emitting from the cars, the earth may as well look very different from where it is now. Considering the time limit and declining environmental health, looking for alternative energy now would be a very good idea.

Procrastination at this level, which politicians often do due to the complex politics in campaigning, would drastically change how humans live. Imagine living without electricity; would humanity return to the stone age of hunting and gathering? Food and water would probably be rationed again. Though change may not be this dramatic, in effect, without electricity we are left with ourselves and Mother Nature. Fortunately, projects are already in progress to find nuclear energy, solar power, or wind energy. However, the public, unaware of the 30-40 year limit, protests against these projects adamantly on unscientific grounds that they are harmful to the environment, and in the case of nuclear power, a cause of massive death in human population, though to specify how massive would be to compare to the death rates in war, whose reaping far outshines that of nuclear power plants. Public protests against these alternative energy sources are halting progress to a brighter future of cleaner energy and less conflict. Many nuclear power plants are being shut down and the American government, in response to public sentiment, blocks the path of many power plants to continue their existence.

For example, the Indian Point Energy Center is applying for the extension of its license, but efforts have been repeatedly made to hinder this, including the mandatory costly installment of new structures that do not benefit the facility.

So what are people so worried about in these nuclear power plants? How does Indian Point relate to New York City? If I were to take a trip inside it, would it be the fear-inspiring structure people think of when they hear the words “nuclear plant”? To answer these questions, let us step into the insides of the monster itself.

The van driving us to Indian Point passed rows and rows of trees in their red and golden autumn colors. The closer we got to Indian Point, the more colorful the trees. There were many rumors on the nuclear plant, that it withered the leaves and killed the trees it breathed on. However looking at the less than barren scenery around me, one tale told with more myth than truth was gently toppled. I suspected the fumes exhaled from this van were more noxious than the plant itself. After many more lines of trees, the car arrived at the parking lot and we passed into a small building. A man told us to wait in a room, where we showed proof of identification with our green cards and IDs, signed papers, and received 2 visitor badges along with papers to be signed at different sections of the plant we went to.

After identification check, we drove in the van for a few minutes before passing a point where visitor badges were checked and entering another building. Before continuing, we passed through metal detectors and radiation-contamination detectors, which announced “clean” for each person that was uncontaminated with radiation. People were to go through the radiation-contamination detectors, which looked no different than the metal detectors except for the small raised platform at the foot place, one at a time, since the machines were very sensitive and could detect contamination in objects near the first person in line. We were then checked for additional items on us and went through agate to another detector. The first stop we made was a building nearby.

On the first floor, we saw a display with the hard hats and goggles employees in the facility used, pictures of some of the members, and several certificates and articles on the facility. On the second floor, we went into a room with 2 long tables, chairs and a projector where Patrick, our guide, started presenting a power point on nuclear energy to us. The plant had 3 units. Unit 1 looked like a tall tower capped with a red and white cone. This building was shut down and was a hybrid operator of both oil and nuclear power. Unit 2 and 3, both completed in 1974, are running, with a cost of $200 million from Unit 2 and $150 million from Unit 3. Unit 2 and 3 produce more than 10% of New York’s electricity. If these Units were to be shut down as per public sentiment, New York would be deprived of much of its electricity. Uranium is used as fuel. The process of nuclear energy is based on nuclear fission. A neutron is sent colliding to a uranium atom, U-235, chosen for the large amount of energy it would produce if split. With enough speed from the neutron, the uranium atom splits. The mass of the 2 halves do not sum up to the mass of the original uranium atom. Part of the mass has been converted to energy, as Einstein’s theory of E=mc^2 implies. Energy, E, is proportional to m, mass, and likewise mass is proportional to energy. The uranium atom has decayed to two unstable isotopes, atoms with unstable nuclei, each of which further decay and emit more neutrons. These neutrons collide with the decaying elements. The cycle of collision, decay, energy emission is continued. To ensure the neutron collides with the uranium, the pressure can be increased to increase chance of collision.

The uranium is usually purified, molded into pellets, and inserted into rods, which are then placed in a pool of water and molten sodium to prevent overheating during the reaction process. Neutrons bombard the uranium. Control rods containing cadmium are also placed there to regulate neutron collision. The water is pressurized to produce steam from the heat of the fission reaction. From this process onwards water pressure and steam is used to generate electricity, not much different from oil and coal fuel, which uses heat from burning oil or coal to achieve the same purpose through pressurized water and steam. The process of harnessing energy is separated into 3 systems.

The first system, where the nuclear fission and steam occurs, is placed in a sturdy dome-like structure, the reactor dome, underground. The heated water from the fission reaction pool goes through a purifier which removes traces of radioactive dust, enters the primary loop, which is encased by another body of water. The primary loop water never directly contacts the second water. The primary loop then circles back to the fission reactor. The temperature of heated water in the primary loop boils the second body of water and makes steam rise up. The steam travels through a secondary loop, and leads to the second system, a generator, where it turns the blades of a steam turbine. The turning blades of the turbine are connected to a metal coil, causing it to rotate. This metal coil is placed in a magnetic field. The rotation of metal coils in a magnetic field produces electricity. This electricity is then passed though the electric grid to houses. The steam from the generator and  water from the second body of water lead to the third system, where the steam is condensed and the warm water expelled to the outside, where is cools off. Cool water from the outside also enters through the third system. Before the water from the second body of water enters the third system, it goes through a purifier and a third loop. This water does no mix with the primary or secondary loop water. Water in this system is recycled and used over again. Patrick then went into detail about public fears on the nuclear facility.

There are many needless concerns on safety that the general public does not fully understand. The groups of people who visit Indian Point are mostly student from different schools. However, the information we learned here would be useful if more people knew about it. If more of the general public visited nuclear plants, more of them would understand how the plant works. This stigma attached to the idea of dangerous nuclear power plants extends to power plants other then Indian Point. For example, people may wonder about the risk of power plants being in highly populated areas. However, these nuclear power plants appear there because of the high population; in other words, the higher the population the more energy is needed, where nuclear power plants are useful. Indian Point Nuclear Power Plant is close to New York City because the power source needs to be close to appliances in order to supply electricity to them.  Energy is lost along the way towards the appliances, so the more the distance the more energy is lost. In the initial building of Indian Point, Con-Edison foresaw this and placed Indian Point close to New York City.

There is also an accusation that 1.5 million fish are dying in the Hudson River because of the nuclear plant. The Hudson River fish population at the time was less than 1.5 million, unless fish eggs and larvae are counted, where half of these eggs and larvae do not survive in nature to begin with. Wide gratings prevent large objects from filtering into the reactor and grating screens prevent fish from getting in. 95% of fish that do end up there survive. However, 1.7 million gallons of water per minute are being sucked in to the facility and released. Some animal life may be affected and any animals coming in would come out different.

For people who worry about the reactor dome cracking, no radioactive material is released if dome cracks. The dome protects the equipment inside, and tests have been done to ensure its sturdiness. If a plane were to crash to the dome, the dome would be unaffected. In a video, we could see the construction of the dome. Workers built layer upon layer of steel construction in a sturdy design until no light could be seen from the inside. They then covered it with layers of cement. 8 layers of steel and concrete were used, with no seams visible. To make sure, a supersonic testing method ensured its stability. In an experiment, a plane was used to crash into the side of the dome. The plane was obliterated and crumbled up like a soda while only a few pieces of cement fell from the dome. Planes are not dense and are hollow aluminum except for the engine. The hollow top of the dome is used to contain the water or steam pressure if one of the steam and water pipes in the loops exploded. Since the water and steam are highly pressurized in order to turn the turbine, explosion from a pipe would cause high speed water and steam to stream out at a large force. The upper part of the dome is used for cases like this. Additionally, the security is also up to date and to ensure this safety drills with black ops are done occasionally.

Everything in the reactor is below ground, only cranes and sprinklers are above ground. The nuclear plant cannot pollute the Hudson River, since water inside does not mix with the Hudson. The three part system, each section separate from the other, in the reactor purifies all incoming water down to parts per trillion, and the water is recycled within the system to be used over, similar to a car engine. Water has never been replaced, simply divided to the third loop to purify.

Warm water that does come out is cooled. Water goes out through a canal which cools through evaporation, and is released at a level higher than the river to make water cooler. The maximum degree the water level is raised from the outcoming plant water is 40 degrees, and levels out by the time it reaches open water. The cooling towers also allow 95% fish to live by misting water to ensure larvae survival. The plant is currently required to install wedge wire cooling system, though doing so would be expensive and only save 86% fish.

In case plant needs upgrading and license expires, the plant can apply for license extension where the plant is inspected and improvements done. Indian Point is 40 years old and has gone through a quarter of its life span. However, the life extensions for units 2 and 3 at Indian Point are taking longer than 5 years due to controversy. $1.5 billion and 20 years are needed to replace the plant, whereas the current cost of running the plant is only in millions. Prices going up in inflation would make it more difficult to build a new plant. Since New York does not have the capabilities to build a new reactor, parts would have to be bought from overseas, making it more expensive.

In addition, many people believe objects exposed to radioactivity become radioactive; objects exposed to radioactivity have radioactive isotope dust sticking to them and can be easily cleaned by washing the objects with water. Most high radioactive waste stays in the reactor. To cause reactor material to spill out, all three systems in reactor must be broken at the same time. There are also coupons outside the reactors which are removable and used to analyze the reactor every 5 years. There are 3 barriers between radioactivity and the environment: the cooling rods, fuels tank, and walls of the dome, all of which are hard to penetrate. In case the system overheats, the control rods can be lowered into the reactor pool. Once the control rods touch the reactor pool, the cadmium absorbs the neutrons, the system automatically shuts down, and the reaction stops. The control rods are used to stat and shut off the system. Once it stops, it takes months for the heat from the reactor to dissipate completely. If the rod is put lower into the reactor, there is higher fission on top than bottom. A more effective control rod material is boric acid.

The incident in Three Mile Island is overblown, since the outside environment was not affected and there was only a minor disruption of a section of the power plant. Accidents such as Chernobyl are rare, and Chernobyl was using an outdated plant model. In cases where the plant is in danger of meltdown, it is designed to shut down by itself. All equipment has been changed at least once in Indian Point. If the steam generator can be changed, other parts can be changed too. Another project the government mandated to build was a new wall, to add security to the nuclear plant. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission [NRC] instructed Indian Point to build the wall starting from 2010, with costs amounting to $70-80 million. If Indian Point couldn’t complete it, the power plant would be shut down. Con Edison decided to shut down Unit 1 because it did not have the equipment needed for newer plants. Shutting down was a safer and more economic alternative. Unit 1 cost $26 million and adding new equipment and fixing it would cost $28 million. It had a small generator with energy output of 265 megawatts. Since its shut down, the fuel in Unit 1 stayed there. The fuel was only recently taken out to fix some leaks. Used reactor rods are assembled in a fuel storage unit. However, there is no more slot space in the storage unit to put used reactor rods. 95% of the radioactive material is still present. A recent idea has been to reprocess and reuse the fuel.

Nuclear power plants are energy efficient and clean. Indian Point supplies 18%-38% energy to NY. Uranium produces more energy than coal and oil, and can produce 37 million times the energy of coal. Less energy is lost in the process of generation in nuclear plants. 1 rod of uranium pellets replaces twenty thousand pounds of coal. There are 204 rods and 204 pellets in each rod. The uranium rods can be held as long as no fire is lit near them. Uranium is an abundant source of energy. Uranium is bombarded with a neutron and creates a chain reaction until it runs out of energy. Uranium does not need more energy to burn, it burns on its on material, the neutrons it emits from each reaction. Indian Point is the most least expensive energy provider in NY. Nuclear power has less pollution, 0% emissions, and supplies most power in NY. There are two types of nuclear power plants, pressurized water power plants, which use nuclear fission with pressurized water to generate electricity and boiling water power plants, which use nuclear fission with boiling water to generate electricity. Indian point is a pressurized water plant, which is more efficient. It allows fossil fuel plants to cut back and reduce emissions. The nuclear plant is always running at 100% capacity due to supply and demand. Byproduct waste is negligible compared to energy output. It is predicted by 2030 that fossil fuels will run out. Other alternatives include wind, sun and nuclear energy, nuclear being the most reliable.

This ended our information session on the power plant. Before leaving the second floor, we were handed yellow hard hats, ear plugs, and goggles to wear for safety in the next sections of the facility. People with shoes that did not completely cover their feet were given large sneakers which had more cover. We left the building through an elevator and while walking to our next destination, Patrick pointed out the reactor dome. The large generators and condensers, which looked like large cylinders or rectangular prisms, stood outside of the dome. We saw the place where the river water passed through to the facility. There was a small shaft, which was an obstacle to prevent fish from getting in. After the first shaft, there were also several other shafts.

We then went into the steam generator room. The humming noise was very loud from the machines so we put on ear plugs. The room was very hot from the machines and energy output. The machines were very large, filling up half the length of the room at a time and had caution labels on them. There were several platforms to enter them.

We then entered another room in a building where employees practiced how to operate the plants. There were many panels in the room. There were side panels and a front panel. A small room in the back contained the supervisor in case a procedure went wrong. Each panel contained controls for each of the parts of the facility. The first panel controlled the steam generator room. Each part of the generator was labeled with letters and numbers. The controls also had letters and numbers in correspondence to the machine parts. For example, the second panel, the reactor panel, had a switch which lowered or raised the control rods. On each panel there was a large red button to shut down the process in case something went wrong. Above the switches and controls were smaller panels with the names of the machine parts on them. If the panel lit up red for a particular section, there was something that needed to be corrected in that section. There were also tiny light bulbs for other sections which lit up to signal error or process.

Employees who worked at the control room had to memorize the controls and their corresponding machine parts and what to press to regulate the machine and processes to carry out in case of emergencies or other specific situations. People who wanted to work in the control room first had to go through training in practice rooms such as this one. They would memorize the information booklet of controls and procedures. In a real scenario, an employee would consult the booklet if he/she was unsure of what to do in a particular situation. Once the training was complete, the person would be tested on the controls using the practice control room. The instructor would ask which machine part corresponded to which knob or switch and present specific scenarios for the person to solve. The real control room was near the reactor, where we saw a supervisor and several other people at the panels. After leaving the building, we went through another radiation detector to make sure we were clean of radioactive material. All people came out as “clean”.

The machines we saw and information we learned made the plant seem much less formidable. The nuclear plant had a significant part in supplying electricity to New York and was a practical alternative to coal and oil. The most important factor in preventing people from seeing nuclear energy’s usefulness was their lack of understanding of how the interior of the plant worked. To fix this, much more of the public should visit the facility, since it is open to the public.

After our trip to the facility, the class presented information on coal, oil and other sources of alternative energy and discussed how they felt about it, including nuclear energy. Many students agreed that the lack of understanding was hindering the progress of nuclear plants. Some students wanted to create clubs to increase awareness in environment, which would open the public to new perspectives on a healthier environment and how alternative energy helps on that. Thermal bottles or organic bags could be sold. This club could work in conjunction with another nuclear energy club which raised awareness for nuclear energy power plants. A part of the club would include the site on Macaulay website which detailed student experience at Indian Point. There was a discussion on the difficulties of progress of nuclear power plants due to politics in campaigning. As of current, the U.S. is only using 1% of all its energy from renewable energy. Worldwide, renewable energy also has a smaller role than coal and oil. Some countries have built more nuclear power plants and made a larger use of that energy. Others have constructed many solar power panels to heat homes and buildings to use as a larger source of energy. Others have become energy sufficient and make use of agriculture. In some presentations, nuclear power was presented as working together with wind and solar energy. Many countries have projects to expand alternative energy, Other alternative energy sources include biofuels such as biogas, the burning of organic material to replace oil in car engines, making the fumes less toxic. Not only would reducing fumes be less toxic to the environment, but also to humans breathing them in. Breathing in car fumes has negative health impact. Not only are alternative energy sources healthier, they are becoming a more realistic practical notion in worldwide energy usage, though there is much more progress to go.

Tran Nguyen                                                   Indian Point Energy Center experience Essay

On November 15, Macaulay students visited a nuclear power plant facility, Indian Point Energy Center. The day started with breakfast, as usual, and microwaved ramen. Daily reminders of human reliance on electricity sprouted inside and outside of homes. Inside, microwaves, light bulbs, computers, even the heating of water in the radiators needed electricity to function. Outside, electric grids and telephone lines decorated the sidewalks. Cars and ambulances spewed out foul-smelling gas as they zoomed past the hospital. But what would happen to the pace of this community if electricity was wiped out. Would economic and social progress be suspended in motion? Suppose the source of electricity for the U.S. was wiped out someday. Where would that leave us? This is a surprisingly realistic notion that frighteningly few of the public know of.

In a span of 30-40 years, the oil supply will run out and humans will have to look to other ways to heat their homes and run their cars. Not to mention the alarming rising temperatures from greenhouse gases emitting from the cars, the earth may as well look very different from where it is now. Considering the time limit and declining environmental health, looking for alternative energy now would be a very good idea.

Procrastination at this level, which politicians often do due to the complex politics in campaigning, would drastically change how humans live. Imagine living without electricity; would humanity return to the stone age of hunting and gathering? Food and water would probably be rationed again. Though change may not be this dramatic, in effect, without electricity we are left with ourselves and Mother Nature. Fortunately, projects are already in progress to find nuclear energy, solar power, or wind energy. However, the public, unaware of the 30-40 year limit, protests against these projects adamantly on unscientific grounds that they are harmful to the environment, and in the case of nuclear power, a cause of massive death in human population, though to specify how massive would be to compare to the death rates in war, whose reaping far outshines that of nuclear power plants. Public protests against these alternative energy sources are halting progress to a brighter future of cleaner energy and less conflict. Many nuclear power plants are being shut down and the American government, in response to public sentiment, blocks the path of many power plants to continue their existence.

For example, the Indian Point Energy Center is applying for the extension of its license, but efforts have been repeatedly made to hinder this, including the mandatory costly installment of new structures that do not benefit the facility.

So what are people so worried about in these nuclear power plants? How does Indian Point relate to New York City? If I were to take a trip inside it, would it be the fear-inspiring structure people think of when they hear the words “nuclear plant”? To answer these questions, let us step into the insides of the monster itself.

The van driving us to Indian Point passed rows and rows of trees in their red and golden autumn colors. The closer we got to Indian Point, the more colorful the trees. There were many rumors on the nuclear plant, that it withered the leaves and killed the trees it breathed on. However looking at the less than barren scenery around me, one tale told with more myth than truth was gently toppled. I suspected the fumes exhaled from this van were more noxious than the plant itself. After many more lines of trees, the car arrived at the parking lot and we passed into a small building. A man told us to wait in a room, where we showed proof of identification with our green cards and IDs, signed papers, and received 2 visitor badges along with papers to be signed at different sections of the plant we went to.

After identification check, we drove in the van for a few minutes before passing a point where visitor badges were checked and entering another building. Before continuing, we passed through metal detectors and radiation-contamination detectors, which announced “clean” for each person that was uncontaminated with radiation. People were to go through the radiation-contamination detectors, which looked no different than the metal detectors except for the small raised platform at the foot place, one at a time, since the machines were very sensitive and could detect contamination in objects near the first person in line. We were then checked for additional items on us and went through agate to another detector. The first stop we made was a building nearby.

On the first floor, we saw a display with the hard hats and goggles employees in the facility used, pictures of some of the members, and several certificates and articles on the facility. On the second floor, we went into a room with 2 long tables, chairs and a projector where Patrick, our guide, started presenting a power point on nuclear energy to us. The plant had 3 units. Unit 1 looked like a tall tower capped with a red and white cone. This building was shut down and was a hybrid operator of both oil and nuclear power. Unit 2 and 3, both completed in 1974, are running, with a cost of $200 million from Unit 2 and $150 million from Unit 3. Unit 2 and 3 produce more than 10% of New York’s electricity. If these Units were to be shut down as per public sentiment, New York would be deprived of much of its electricity. Uranium is used as fuel. The process of nuclear energy is based on nuclear fission. A neutron is sent colliding to a uranium atom, U-235, chosen for the large amount of energy it would produce if split. With enough speed from the neutron, the uranium atom splits. The mass of the 2 halves do not sum up to the mass of the original uranium atom. Part of the mass has been converted to energy, as Einstein’s theory of E=mc^2 implies. Energy, E, is proportional to m, mass, and likewise mass is proportional to energy. The uranium atom has decayed to two unstable isotopes, atoms with unstable nuclei, each of which further decay and emit more neutrons. These neutrons collide with the decaying elements. The cycle of collision, decay, energy emission is continued. To ensure the neutron collides with the uranium, the pressure can be increased to increase chance of collision.

The uranium is usually purified, molded into pellets, and inserted into rods, which are then placed in a pool of water and molten sodium to prevent overheating during the reaction process. Neutrons bombard the uranium. Control rods containing cadmium are also placed there to regulate neutron collision. The water is pressurized to produce steam from the heat of the fission reaction. From this process onwards water pressure and steam is used to generate electricity, not much different from oil and coal fuel, which uses heat from burning oil or coal to achieve the same purpose through pressurized water and steam. The process of harnessing energy is separated into 3 systems.

The first system, where the nuclear fission and steam occurs, is placed in a sturdy dome-like structure, the reactor dome, underground. The heated water from the fission reaction pool goes through a purifier which removes traces of radioactive dust, enters the primary loop, which is encased by another body of water. The primary loop water never directly contacts the second water. The primary loop then circles back to the fission reactor. The temperature of heated water in the primary loop boils the second body of water and makes steam rise up. The steam travels through a secondary loop, and leads to the second system, a generator, where it turns the blades of a steam turbine. The turning blades of the turbine are connected to a metal coil, causing it to rotate. This metal coil is placed in a magnetic field. The rotation of metal coils in a magnetic field produces electricity. This electricity is then passed though the electric grid to houses. The steam from the generator and  water from the second body of water lead to the third system, where the steam is condensed and the warm water expelled to the outside, where is cools off. Cool water from the outside also enters through the third system. Before the water from the second body of water enters the third system, it goes through a purifier and a third loop. This water does no mix with the primary or secondary loop water. Water in this system is recycled and used over again. Patrick then went into detail about public fears on the nuclear facility.

There are many needless concerns on safety that the general public does not fully understand. The groups of people who visit Indian Point are mostly student from different schools. However, the information we learned here would be useful if more people knew about it. If more of the general public visited nuclear plants, more of them would understand how the plant works. This stigma attached to the idea of dangerous nuclear power plants extends to power plants other then Indian Point. For example, people may wonder about the risk of power plants being in highly populated areas. However, these nuclear power plants appear there because of the high population; in other words, the higher the population the more energy is needed, where nuclear power plants are useful. Indian Point Nuclear Power Plant is close to New York City because the power source needs to be close to appliances in order to supply electricity to them.  Energy is lost along the way towards the appliances, so the more the distance the more energy is lost. In the initial building of Indian Point, Con-Edison foresaw this and placed Indian Point close to New York City.

There is also an accusation that 1.5 million fish are dying in the Hudson River because of the nuclear plant. The Hudson River fish population at the time was less than 1.5 million, unless fish eggs and larvae are counted, where half of these eggs and larvae do not survive in nature to begin with. Wide gratings prevent large objects from filtering into the reactor and grating screens prevent fish from getting in. 95% of fish that do end up there survive. However, 1.7 million gallons of water per minute are being sucked in to the facility and released. Some animal life may be affected and any animals coming in would come out different.

For people who worry about the reactor dome cracking, no radioactive material is released if dome cracks. The dome protects the equipment inside, and tests have been done to ensure its sturdiness. If a plane were to crash to the dome, the dome would be unaffected. In a video, we could see the construction of the dome. Workers built layer upon layer of steel construction in a sturdy design until no light could be seen from the inside. They then covered it with layers of cement. 8 layers of steel and concrete were used, with no seams visible. To make sure, a supersonic testing method ensured its stability. In an experiment, a plane was used to crash into the side of the dome. The plane was obliterated and crumbled up like a soda while only a few pieces of cement fell from the dome. Planes are not dense and are hollow aluminum except for the engine. The hollow top of the dome is used to contain the water or steam pressure if one of the steam and water pipes in the loops exploded. Since the water and steam are highly pressurized in order to turn the turbine, explosion from a pipe would cause high speed water and steam to stream out at a large force. The upper part of the dome is used for cases like this. Additionally, the security is also up to date and to ensure this safety drills with black ops are done occasionally.

Everything in the reactor is below ground, only cranes and sprinklers are above ground. The nuclear plant cannot pollute the Hudson River, since water inside does not mix with the Hudson. The three part system, each section separate from the other, in the reactor purifies all incoming water down to parts per trillion, and the water is recycled within the system to be used over, similar to a car engine. Water has never been replaced, simply divided to the third loop to purify.

Warm water that does come out is cooled. Water goes out through a canal which cools through evaporation, and is released at a level higher than the river to make water cooler. The maximum degree the water level is raised from the outcoming plant water is 40 degrees, and levels out by the time it reaches open water. The cooling towers also allow 95% fish to live by misting water to ensure larvae survival. The plant is currently required to install wedge wire cooling system, though doing so would be expensive and only save 86% fish.

In case plant needs upgrading and license expires, the plant can apply for license extension where the plant is inspected and improvements done. Indian Point is 40 years old and has gone through a quarter of its life span. However, the life extensions for units 2 and 3 at Indian Point are taking longer than 5 years due to controversy. $1.5 billion and 20 years are needed to replace the plant, whereas the current cost of running the plant is only in millions. Prices going up in inflation would make it more difficult to build a new plant. Since New York does not have the capabilities to build a new reactor, parts would have to be bought from overseas, making it more expensive.

In addition, many people believe objects exposed to radioactivity become radioactive; objects exposed to radioactivity have radioactive isotope dust sticking to them and can be easily cleaned by washing the objects with water. Most high radioactive waste stays in the reactor. To cause reactor material to spill out, all three systems in reactor must be broken at the same time. There are also coupons outside the reactors which are removable and used to analyze the reactor every 5 years. There are 3 barriers between radioactivity and the environment: the cooling rods, fuels tank, and walls of the dome, all of which are hard to penetrate. In case the system overheats, the control rods can be lowered into the reactor pool. Once the control rods touch the reactor pool, the cadmium absorbs the neutrons, the system automatically shuts down, and the reaction stops. The control rods are used to stat and shut off the system. Once it stops, it takes months for the heat from the reactor to dissipate completely. If the rod is put lower into the reactor, there is higher fission on top than bottom. A more effective control rod material is boric acid.

The incident in Three Mile Island is overblown, since the outside environment was not affected and there was only a minor disruption of a section of the power plant. Accidents such as Chernobyl are rare, and Chernobyl was using an outdated plant model. In cases where the plant is in danger of meltdown, it is designed to shut down by itself. All equipment has been changed at least once in Indian Point. If the steam generator can be changed, other parts can be changed too. Another project the government mandated to build was a new wall, to add security to the nuclear plant. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission [NRC] instructed Indian Point to build the wall starting from 2010, with costs amounting to $70-80 million. If Indian Point couldn’t complete it, the power plant would be shut down. Con Edison decided to shut down Unit 1 because it did not have the equipment needed for newer plants. Shutting down was a safer and more economic alternative. Unit 1 cost $26 million and adding new equipment and fixing it would cost $28 million. It had a small generator with energy output of 265 megawatts. Since its shut down, the fuel in Unit 1 stayed there. The fuel was only recently taken out to fix some leaks. Used reactor rods are assembled in a fuel storage unit. However, there is no more slot space in the storage unit to put used reactor rods. 95% of the radioactive material is still present. A recent idea has been to reprocess and reuse the fuel.

Nuclear power plants are energy efficient and clean. Indian Point supplies 18%-38% energy to NY. Uranium produces more energy than coal and oil, and can produce 37 million times the energy of coal. Less energy is lost in the process of generation in nuclear plants. 1 rod of uranium pellets replaces twenty thousand pounds of coal. There are 204 rods and 204 pellets in each rod. The uranium rods can be held as long as no fire is lit near them. Uranium is an abundant source of energy. Uranium is bombarded with a neutron and creates a chain reaction until it runs out of energy. Uranium does not need more energy to burn, it burns on its on material, the neutrons it emits from each reaction. Indian Point is the most least expensive energy provider in NY. Nuclear power has less pollution, 0% emissions, and supplies most power in NY. There are two types of nuclear power plants, pressurized water power plants, which use nuclear fission with pressurized water to generate electricity and boiling water power plants, which use nuclear fission with boiling water to generate electricity. Indian point is a pressurized water plant, which is more efficient. It allows fossil fuel plants to cut back and reduce emissions. The nuclear plant is always running at 100% capacity due to supply and demand. Byproduct waste is negligible compared to energy output. It is predicted by 2030 that fossil fuels will run out. Other alternatives include wind, sun and nuclear energy, nuclear being the most reliable.

This ended our information session on the power plant. Before leaving the second floor, we were handed yellow hard hats, ear plugs, and goggles to wear for safety in the next sections of the facility. People with shoes that did not completely cover their feet were given large sneakers which had more cover. We left the building through an elevator and while walking to our next destination, Patrick pointed out the reactor dome. The large generators and condensers, which looked like large cylinders or rectangular prisms, stood outside of the dome. We saw the place where the river water passed through to the facility. There was a small shaft, which was an obstacle to prevent fish from getting in. After the first shaft, there were also several other shafts.

We then went into the steam generator room. The humming noise was very loud from the machines so we put on ear plugs. The room was very hot from the machines and energy output. The machines were very large, filling up half the length of the room at a time and had caution labels on them. There were several platforms to enter them.

We then entered another room in a building where employees practiced how to operate the plants. There were many panels in the room. There were side panels and a front panel. A small room in the back contained the supervisor in case a procedure went wrong. Each panel contained controls for each of the parts of the facility. The first panel controlled the steam generator room. Each part of the generator was labeled with letters and numbers. The controls also had letters and numbers in correspondence to the machine parts. For example, the second panel, the reactor panel, had a switch which lowered or raised the control rods. On each panel there was a large red button to shut down the process in case something went wrong. Above the switches and controls were smaller panels with the names of the machine parts on them. If the panel lit up red for a particular section, there was something that needed to be corrected in that section. There were also tiny light bulbs for other sections which lit up to signal error or process.

Employees who worked at the control room had to memorize the controls and their corresponding machine parts and what to press to regulate the machine and processes to carry out in case of emergencies or other specific situations. People who wanted to work in the control room first had to go through training in practice rooms such as this one. They would memorize the information booklet of controls and procedures. In a real scenario, an employee would consult the booklet if he/she was unsure of what to do in a particular situation. Once the training was complete, the person would be tested on the controls using the practice control room. The instructor would ask which machine part corresponded to which knob or switch and present specific scenarios for the person to solve. The real control room was near the reactor, where we saw a supervisor and several other people at the panels. After leaving the building, we went through another radiation detector to make sure we were clean of radioactive material. All people came out as “clean”.

The machines we saw and information we learned made the plant seem much less formidable. The nuclear plant had a significant part in supplying electricity to New York and was a practical alternative to coal and oil. The most important factor in preventing people from seeing nuclear energy’s usefulness was their lack of understanding of how the interior of the plant worked. To fix this, much more of the public should visit the facility, since it is open to the public.

After our trip to the facility, the class presented information on coal, oil and other sources of alternative energy and discussed how they felt about it, including nuclear energy. Many students agreed that the lack of understanding was hindering the progress of nuclear plants. Some students wanted to create clubs to increase awareness in environment, which would open the public to new perspectives on a healthier environment and how alternative energy helps on that. Thermal bottles or organic bags could be sold. This club could work in conjunction with another nuclear energy club which raised awareness for nuclear energy power plants. A part of the club would include the site on Macaulay website which detailed student experience at Indian Point. There was a discussion on the difficulties of progress of nuclear power plants due to politics in campaigning. As of current, the U.S. is only using 1% of all its energy from renewable energy. Worldwide, renewable energy also has a smaller role than coal and oil. Some countries have built more nuclear power plants and made a larger use of that energy. Others have constructed many solar power panels to heat homes and buildings to use as a larger source of energy. Others have become energy sufficient and make use of agriculture. In some presentations, nuclear power was presented as working together with wind and solar energy. Many countries have projects to expand alternative energy, Other alternative energy sources include biofuels such as biogas, the burning of organic material to replace oil in car engines, making the fumes less toxic. Not only would reducing fumes be less toxic to the environment, but also to humans breathing them in. Breathing in car fumes has negative health impact. Not only are alternative energy sources healthier, they are becoming a more realistic practical notion in worldwide energy usage, though there is much more progress to go.