5/12/15 NJ.com: Indian Point fire raises concerns about aging nuclear plants in N.Y. and N.J.

05/12/2015 Ben Smilowitz Comments Closed

Indian Point fire raises concerns about aging nuclear plants in N.Y. and N.J.

S.P. Sullivan | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com By S.P. Sullivan | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

on May 11, 2015 at 7:45 PM, updated May 12, 2015 at 9:30 AM

“Many people don’t even realize they’re within 50 miles, as the plume flies.”

TRENTON — A reactor at the Indian Point Energy Center, a nuclear power plant 20 miles north of New Jersey in Buchanan, N.Y., could remain offline for weeks after a fire and oil spill late Saturday, officials said.

The incident, which sent thousand gallons of transformer oil into the Hudson River, concerns environmental advocates, who warn about the dangers of aging nuclear infrastructure in both states.

“Northeastern New Jersey is in the impact zone (of Indian Point), and anything that leaks from there, whether it’s oil or radiation, could impact us,” said Jeff Tittel, director of the New Jersey Sierra Club.

A spokesman for plant owner Entergy Corp. said the fire started when a transformer at Indian Point Unit 3 failed. The cause is still unknown.

The reactor itself has been deemed safe, but the shutdown caused the oil to overflow from a holding tank, finding its way to the Hudson, officials said.

Cliff Weathers, a spokesman for the New York environmental group Riverkeeper, said the oil sheen had spread to the other side of the Hudson and had been spotted downriver Rockland County, which sits to the north of New Jersey.

“How this will effect anything going up and down river? It’s hard to say because we don’t know how much hasn’t been contained,” Weathers told NJ Advance Media.

Larry Hajna, a spokesman for New Jersey’s Department of Environmental Protection, said officials in New York would notify his agency if any impact from the spill was expected in New Jersey. So far, they’ve raised no concerns, he said.

Indian Point Energy Center supplies electricity for millions of customers in Westchester County and New York City, but critics of the plant, built in the 1970s, would like to see it close.

“You do not have a nuclear plant in as dense a populated area anywhere else on the globe,” said New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo. A spokesman for Gov. Chris Christie did not respond to an inquiry.

Tittel, of the Sierra Club, said three incidents at Indian Point in the last decade and several minor ones at the Oyster Creek facility in Ocean County raise concerns about their safety.

“These plants are old, whether it’s Indian Point or Oyster Creek, and they’re showing their age,” Tittel said. “They’re like a 1970 Buick Skylark in the age of the Tesla, so there’s always a concern.”

New Jersey sits outside the 10-mile emergency planning zone for Indian Point mandated by the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission. But an April report from the Disaster Accountability Project found that many communities in New York and New Jersey that could be affected by a major disaster at the plant don’t have adequate emergency plans.

“Many people don’t even realize they’re within 50 miles, as the plume flies,” said Ben Smilowitz, the project’s director.

Material from the Associated Press was used in this report.

S.P. Sullivan may be reached at ssullivan@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

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