NEW YORK (Legal Newsline) — New York Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman has released comments on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s (NRC) decision to require its staff to conduct a re-analysis of the impacts caused by accidents at the Indian Point nuclear power facility.
The NRC overruled an earlier administrative ruling and has found its analysis of severe accident minimization at the facility violates the National Environmental Policy Act.
“I am heartened the NRC commissioners agreed with my office that Entergy and NRC staff have systematically undercounted the costs and impacts associated with severe reactor accidents at the Indian Point plant,” Schneiderman said.
“The commissioners’ decision requires the NRC staff to do what should have been done years ago: provide an accurate account of cost-effective upgrades at this aging nuclear plant that can prevent or minimize severe accidents. While some might prefer to treat severe accidents as impossibilities, the millions of people who live and work near Indian Point deserve nothing less than a full and fair assessment of the plant upgrades needed to protect them against such accidents.”