[ RadSafe ] Indian Point License Extension- State Ownership History

[stewart farber]

Hi all,
Regarding NY State and its potential ownership and shutdown of nuclear 
plants alluded to by Thomas Potter in his post below. There is nothing new 
under the sun.

The Power Authority of the State of NY [PASNY as it referred to itself at 
that time] purchased Indian Point #3  [from Consolidated Edison] and J.A. 
FitzPatrick Nuclear Power Stations [from Niagara Mohawk]  in 1977 or late 
1976.

I'm familiar with this bit of history because I joined PASNY's Corporate 
Office in late 1977 and worked there for a few years as Sr. Radiological 
Engineer. Con Ed continued to own and operate IP#2 adjoining IP#3, and 
Niagara Mohawk continued to operate Nine Mile Point Nuclear Plant which 
shared a common site boundary with FitzPatrick Station until all of these 
units were sold to various other utilities.

For a short time, PASNY also purchased Shoreham Nuclear Station on Long 
Island during the 1980s from Long Island Lighting Company [LILCO] as part of 
a decision between NY State and LILCO  to shut it down and decommission it 
rather than operate Shoreham. This acquisition, shutdown, and 
decommissioning of Shoreham cost the people of the State of NY billions of $ 
considering the cost of throwing away a completed nuclear plant [which took 
forever to build and cost billions]  and the other preceding costs,  plus 
higher priced replacement power over the past 20 years.

PASNY at the time was the largest non-Federal public power authority in the 
US.

Stewart Farber, MS Public Health

Farber Medical Solutions, LLC
Linac, Medical, & HP Instrument Brokerage
[203] 441-8433 [Office]
[203] 522-2817 [Cell]
[203] 367-0791 [Fax]
email: radproject at sbcglobal.net

=================================
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "THOMAS POTTER" <pottert at starpower.net>
To: <radsafe at radlab.nl>
Sent: Wednesday, December 12, 2007 5:13 PM
Subject: [ RadSafe ] Indian Point License Extension


> Here are a couple of Times articles to complement
> the article posted by John Jacobus
> regarding the opposition of the State of New York to
> the extension of the operating
> licenses for Indian Point Units 2 and 3.
>
> The bald posturing by the State of New York
> officials should be obvious to all.  The
> State has a responsibility to protect its citizens.
> If State officials really
> believe the plant should be shut down immediately,
> they should take the action
> necessary to do it.  To do anything less would be
> irresponsible.  It is true that by
> law only NRC can regulate for safety.  But
> intervention in the NRC licensing is not
> the only or even the best way for New York to shut
> down the plants.  The sure way for
> the State to succeed and to succeed in the most
> timely manner is for the State to buy
> the plants and shut them down.  An owner can shut
> down a plant for any reason he
> chooses.
>
> The idea of a state owning a nuclear power plant may
> seem strange to some, but
> precedent for this can be found quite close to this
> case--on top of it, actually.
> Bizarre as it may seem, the State of New York owned
> and operated Indian Point Unit 3,
> one of the units it now believes should be shut down
> immediately, until 2000, when it
> sold the plant for hundreds of millions of dollars.
> (How responsible was that?)  The
> State of New York sold the plant, and it can buy the
> plant back.  And if it can buy
> one, it can buy two.  To do anything less would be
> irresponsible if state officials
> believe their own statements.  They surely don't.
> Making those statements is simply
> a different way of being irresponsible.

==================================
> Thomas E. Potter
>
> The New York Times
> December 4, 2007
> Citing Past Troubles at Indian Point, State Urges
> Panel to Deny License Extension
> By JOHN SULLIVAN and MATTHEW L. WALD
> WHITE PLAINS, Dec. 3 — Attorney General Andrew M.
> Cuomo said on Monday that the state
> had asked the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to deny
> an application to extend the
> license of the Indian Point nuclear reactors, citing
> “a long and troubling history of
> problems.” ......................................................