“Are you ready?” Ready for what? As a resident of Westchester county who lives within a ten mile radius of Indian Point, every year I receive an Indian Point Emergency Guide, indicating what I should do if an emergency were to occur. Most years I do not really read it, but this year my curiosity was peaked as I was scheduled to go on a tour with my class to the plant.
I started to wonder why so many opinions about nuclear energy exist. Some people claim that it will destroy our environment and that radioactive leaks will cause widespread cancer. Others believe it is the solution to our world energy crisis, and we must begin investing in nuclear energy now for the future. Both sides tend to be very adamant about their opinions. But why is there such a variety, should not facts speak for themselves? After reading the pamphlet I realized why such a broad range of opinions on nuclear energy are in a simultaneous existence: it has to do with perspective, and comprehension of available information. For that reason I would like to present to you my perspective, as enlightened by information that I have gathered while living near the plant for 19 years, touring the plant, and speaking to a few of the people who are involved in energy regulation and consumption. My goal is not to convince you to become a supporter or opposer of nuclear power, because quite honestly I am neither, but rather to encourage you to gather more information and possibly from an outside view, use my perspective to come to better conclusions than I.
I will begin discussing what my impression of nuclear energy, and by extension Indian Point, had been prior to the tour of the plant. The title “are you ready?” expresses well my sentiment of impending doom implied by the idea of a nuclear power plant near my home. Outside of my house there is an emergency siren which is part of the County’s Emergency Alert System (EAS). Every couple months a test tone would be produced; it is basically 4 minutes of a deafening blaring tone heard no matter where one could be in Westchester. It is supposed to warn us if we would need to leave the vicinity in an emergency caused by Indian Point. What kind of emergency? Of course only the explosion of the whole facility! A miniature Hiroshima, right here in Westchester! Or maybe it is just a bureaucratic show of preparedness for an event that would never occur. Quite honestly I never knew what the sirens were warning us of; I could only imagine something awful if everyone in the county had to know about it. What I learned later in the tour helped me understand that such reaction was extremely over dramatic, and better said impossible.
Besides the fact that I was unaware of how minimal the actual dangers of a nuclear power plant could be, I also was unaware of what actually occurred in the plant. Nearby Indian Point is also Camp Smith, a New York Army National Guard training center. I had concluded that one of the reasons the base was established near by was to protect the power plant from terrorists. After 9/11, in everyone’s mind in NYC and Westchester, Indian Point became a primary target for a terrorist attack. Because of the imminent attack, I assumed the Federal government was working with the plant to create anti-terrorists plans; my mental concept of the relationship between the Federal government and Indian Point was one of a peaceful and mutual nature. This is far from what I have learned, although an amicable relationship would be to everyone’s benefit.
My final concern in relation to the plant was it’s environmental impact. I as I will later explain, the plant uses Hudson River water as a coolant. Once the water has been used, it is pumped back into the river. I had been lead to believe that the temperature of the water that was returned to the river was significantly higher than the naturally occurring temperatures. As a result, there was allegedly even different flora and fauna in the marine environment near the plant. Of the most frightening rumors is that of higher rates of cancer in the perimeter of power plant, directly as a result of radioactive leaking. Property values near the Indian Point area are low in comparison with many parts of Westchester, possibly as a result of the idea of radioactivity in the environment.
These are some of the concerns and speculations I have had growing up near the area. I cannot say that any of them have a scientific basis, but they still have succeeded in permeating the mind of those of us who live in the “danger zone.” They are by no means representative of everyone’s perspective, but hopefully will help you to understand the real concerns of the common person living near Indian Point.
Trying to distinguish the truth about nuclear power from fictitious rumors is difficult, but the best place to start would be to understand how nuclear power works. Nuclear power produces electricity the same way as any fossil fuel: by rotating a steam turbine; the method used to create the steam is what varies among the methods of energy production. Nuclear energy is produced by the fission of Uranium atoms.
I am nor a physicist nor chemist, so I will keep the explanation of how a nuclear power plant works just to a minimum so you can follow along with my train of thought.
There are 2 different nuclear reactor models used in the US. The one used in Indian Point is called a pressurized water reactor. It functions by having three closed loops that interchange heat among each other. In the primary loop the radioactive elements are in a fuel capsule called the reactor. The reactor is composed of fuel rods containing Uranium pellets that are assembled in rectangular container called assemblies. Each uranium pellet fissions (or breaks apart) , releasing neutrons. If the rods are placed in water, the neutrons move slow enough to hit other uranium atoms and cause more fission; the effect is a chain reaction, which produces a continuous flow of energy in the form of heat. The heat warms up water in the secondary loop, which creates steam to rotate the turbine. The tertiary loop uses water from an outside source, in the case of Indian Point the Hudson River, to cool down the reactor as to avoid overheating. The explanation of the power plant is pretty straightforward.
I was privileged enough to go on a tour of the plant to see how it works and ask one of the plant’s representatives to calm any of my qualms in regard to the power plant. I really should not say “privileged” because to my surprise just about anyone can go for a tour to the power plant, or at least that’s what I was told. All you have to do is reach out to their educational coordinator who supposedly can arrange a tour and possibly a lunch for a group of about 8 people. How feasible these tours are I do not know, being that in the whole plant there is only 1 tour guide! Ironic for a company so worried about their public image, and with the economic means to do something about it. You do need to submit names and valid ID’s to demonstrate that you are an American citizen. I did find it interesting that they needed to run a background check on everyone entering the plant. Our tour guide emphasized the safety of the plant, but why then so much needed security? I suppose if someone where to enter the plant with plan to create some chaos or accident that could have a political influence that could cause some serious damage. The reason for such extensive precautions is still not clear to me.
When we reached the plant we first went to a building outside the protected reactor facility where we confirmed our identity and were given visitor passes. The impression I had of this first building was interesting, because I was expecting a top-secret modern facility where we were going to be extensively questioned and have our thumbprints examined. The building was anything but modern; it was old; the ladies bathroom in the hall was out of order; the furniture in the waiting rooms was most definitely from when the plant first opened and the hallways had large glassy, beige, bricks reminding me of my middle school.
After receiving our passes we rode our mini-bus into the plant with our tour guide leading the way. We passed one security gate, where our guide simply told the guard that we were with him. Once we reached the entrance for the main building of what’s called the “protected area” we had to wait for 2 security guards to give us a pat down to then enter. The guards took their time to come, which gave me 2 impressions: 1) they did not view us as an imminent threat and, 2) they lacked a sense of urgency, possibly because there have been no sources to induce it.
There was one female and male guard, whom came carrying large firearms. They seemed to barely notice that they were carrying the firearms, as if they did not really exist. Of course not used to being around large guns, I was slightly shocked by their presence, but I was more concerned about the pat down. But my concern was pointless as it was quick and not at all invasive.
At this point my class and I are inside the main office building, which was nothing like the first. It was modern, bright and very clean; also surprisingly empty. We entered a conference room where our tour guide gave us roughly a 2-hour presentation about the plant and answered all of the class’s questions. He could not have given us the explanation he did while conducting the walking tour because the facility is a functional power plant; people are walking about, its loud, and we simply would have been in the way.
I would like to address the concerns I had at beginning of the essay, because at this point of the tour they were answered. Firstly, what kind of emergency could the plant actually have. There are four types: a notification of unusual event (NUE), Alert, Site area emergency (SAE), and a general emergency (GE). What is interesting is that the Indian Point emergency guide that I receive at home defines all four! If by simply reading the pamphlet I would have been more informed about the realities of the plant. The worst category is a GE. In this case particles from the reactor, or the primary loop escape into the air and can contaminate a wide spread area via wind as a vector.
The plant cannot blow up like a bomb, contrary to popular belief. This is a result of the way the nuclear power plant is built. There are at least two reasons that help me understand why it could not happen: firstly, the Uranium pellets are not concentrated or “enriched” to the point needed in a nuclear bomb; secondly the assemblies in the nuclear core reactor are organized in a way that physically they could not conglomerate to create the core needed for a bomb. The reactor core could overheat if the tertiary loop does not function in cooling the primary loop creating a nuclear meltdown; in this case the control rods overheat and react with the water in the primary loop creating a powerful explosion of radioactive hydrogen gas, which could be dangerous. To prevent such an event there is a large concrete dome around the reactor. The dome is no thin wall there simply for show; it provides real protection to the plant. Flying fighter jets into a mock copy of the wall tested the dome and the results are impressive. The wall is practically untouched, and the fighter jets abolished.
The strength of the wall attests to another aspect of the plant: its capability against a terrorist attack. Besides the fact that flying into the reactor core would have a relatively small effect, being that it is practically underground, a plan targeting the core could not reach it because of the dome’s protective walls. Logically speaking, it would not make sense for terrorists to attack the plant; the damage would be minimal.
Another facet I became aware of during the presentation was the unfriendly relationship between the power plant and the NY state government, in particular Governor Cuomo. The Governor is a number one opposer to plant. He feels that is a danger because of its location and age (the plant is close to at least one fault line, is less than 40 miles north of NYC, and nearing 40 years of age) . As a result the power plant company has made many strides to make the plant safe and in concordance with NY state laws. Quite honestly, I do not know how much scientific ground Cuomo has. The plant may be older, but newer does not necessarily mean more efficient. His plans include bringing down electricity from Quebec, which I find to be a bit foolish. Although I do not know exactly how electricity works, one basic principle I have learned is the farther away electricity is exported, the more electricity is lost. With this fundamental physics principle in mind, how much electricity would be lost in transport from Canada? And what about energy independence? Depending on a foreign country for power seems like an economic step backwards for me. I am not an extensively informed person about NY politics, but from what I have gathered Cuomo’s goal to shut down the plant seems more bureaucratic than scientifically practical.
Finally, my last concern was the environmental impact the plant could be having in the area. Our tour guide explained that various experiments conducted in the marine area near the plant have shown an increase in temperature, yet it is quite insignificant (if I understood correctly it was about a 4℉) increase. The plant has had built many preventative measures in an effort to protect the wildlife in the river, although it still has a measurable impact. The company is willing to make changes to improve their impact on the environment. In this case I appreciate the NY government’s constant hassling of Indian Point to be aware of their impact on the environment. Without NY’s over-vigilance, perhaps the power plant would have extremely damaging practices, yet I do not believe in the need to over exaggerate. Every energy producing facility creates an environmental impact, what we have to be attentive to is which has the least impact. In the sense of CO2 emissions nuclear beats just about everyone, and most certainly fossil fuels. Water and air quality are significantly better with nuclear power than burning coal or oil.
One environmental argument made by many people against nuclear power is what to do with used fuel rods. The fuel rods enter the reactor not being radioactive, but leave being extremely dangerous. In most countries that use nuclear power they reprocess the rods and are then able to use them again for more energy. In the United States, that is not possible because of a law made years ago, and as a result the rods must be stored on the power plant’s grounds. Many people argue that if the rods were to be accidentally exposed to the environment the result would be catastrophic. It is true that the result would be extremely harmful to the environment, but that could be avoided if the government lifted the ban on reprocessing. The rods would be used up to the point where the maximum use has been taken out of them and then they could be safely stored in a facility where they could naturally decay to the point when they would no longer be dangerous (it takes about 210 years for the rods to be restored to naturally occurring levels of radiation). If all the rods in the U.S. were reprocessed and then stored, they would only take up the room of about a large garage; I doubt that amount of space would be difficult to find in the entire U.S.
What about cancer; is there more cancer in the area surrounding Indian Point. I came to an interesting conclusion from one brief comment made by the tour guide. He mentioned a few other industrial companies in the immediate area of Indian Point. I then remembered that quite a while back Crayola had a company in Peekskill that dumped toxic wastes into the environment and caused infinite damage. At that point I realized that so many industries surround Buchannan and Peekskill that possibly produce carcinogens, that pointing the finger at Indian Point would be a result of an unfounded bias.
Via the presentation given by the tour guide he answered all of my questions from the best of his ability. It would be naïve for me say that I believe all of his answers were both unbiased and 100% accurate, but they gave me a lot to think about. The guide seemed genuinely happy to know that we were inquisitive about the topic of nuclear energy, although I wish he would have presented more information to counter attack the arguments made by Cuomo and the NY government. If Cuomo has basis for some his arguments then admit it! People appreciate honesty and clarity; nuclear energy has a cloud hanging around it, and being straightforward could help to dissipate that.
So after the presentation in the conference room we had a complementary lunch and continued our tour. While we waited for our tour guide to collect something from his office we stopped at a beautiful window, which allowed us to see the entire power plant; it appears so small to be a site of such large controversy. We had to wear PPE, Personal Protective Equipment, which consisted of a hardhat, glasses, and earplugs: the basic for any site that has construction going on. We made are way down to a more intense safety check. Here we passed through x-ray machines such as those used at airports with large security guards providing constant surveillance (although the security guards were very friendly). Once we made it through the security check we started into the plant. A few things caught my eye on the way into the plant. Firstly, were these large bulletproof walls set up around the walkway to the main plant building; we were told that they are there in case an attack were to occur to be able to fight off any invaders. Another thing that I found interesting was the amount of workers walking around; they looked like regular construction workers, I did not find any mad scientists roaming around. This emphasized for me that although Indian Point is a nuclear facility, it also is just a power plant; the science behind it is not mysterious.
We later passed by the control room for the facility. We were not allowed inside for obvious reasons; an accidental touch of a button could cause major problems in the plant.
The most impressive room had to be where we went next: the generator room. It is a very large room containing the generator and turbine; this is where the steam from the secondary loop is used. The room was very hot and loud. There were a few undergoing construction projects such a broken light above and a few marked up problematic gauges, but it was a relatively clear and clean area.
After touring the generator we went under it and saw it’s under workings. There were a few unidentifiable bubbling liquids, at least unidentifiable to my untrained eye, and again minor construction projects. Everything appeared to be made from concrete, and was pretty clean. Although it was apparent that the machinery was not new, it appeared to be well taken care of and functioning.
The penultimate stop on the trip was seeing the outside part of the tertiary or cooling loop. We saw where water gushed out back into the Hudson River, and our tour guide signaled out some of the adjustments they have made to the tertiary loop as to be more environmentally friendly.
The final stop was the mock control room where future reactor operators are trained. The room looked like something out of the 80’s. There were panels of buttons and screens that made no sense to me, but each seemed to signal something of importance. Reactor operator’s have 18 months to learn every button and possible outcome that could occur if something in the control room malfunctioned. I thought it was interesting that the computers in the room were not connected to any outside lines (as in it does not have internet). Some may say this is antiquated, but in reality it serves as a wise security mechanism: it cannot be penetrated from the outside. This makes me think of the sharp contrast with our electrical grid system, which is susceptible to cyber attacks.
And that concluded our tour. We returned to the conference room gathered our things, and practically saw our way out. The trip lasted from about 8am to 3:30pm. I left the facility physically beat, but with much to think about.
The tour served to answer some of my scientific questions, but also reached deeper than that to an almost emotional level. I could have researched the questions I had about plant logistics and possible scenarios, but nothing could replace the visual data I collected. I had so many negative feelings about the plant without really understanding what it was about.
I had no idea the key role it plays in my daily life as an energy provider, not just to Westchester, but to NYC as well. I think that the plant and nuclear power in general are misrepresented to the public. I cannot say that I believe 100% that there are no negative effects on the environment, but I believe that those effects should be countered by benefits. Nuclear power is relatively clean, sustainable, and believe it or not, safe. Would I want to live outside the power plant? Probably not, but that can easily be solved by not moving near the power plant.
I think Entergy, the owners of Indian Point, should do more outreach to the community as an initiative to inform. For example, expand their tour guide department and go to different high schools to inform students in regards to what nuclear power really is. These relatively small initiatives may not directly influence Indian Point, but may give nuclear power a more even playing field as major energy contributor in America.
- Index
- “Entergy”
- Indian Point Energy Center
- Indian Point Energy Center and Nuclear Power
- Indian Point Energy Center Experience
- Indian Point Power Plant Essay
- Indian Point Perspective
- Lessons from Indian Point
- Myths and Misinterpretations of “Nuclear”
- Nuclear energy
- Nuclear Energy: Necessity of the Near Future
- A Personal View of Nuclear Energy
- The Prospects of Nuclear Energy: Why We Need to Shift
- Trip to Indian Point
- Trip to Indian Point Energy Center
- Welcome to the New Age
- About
- Entrance