WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. (AP) — February 5, 2013 — The federal fisheries service says the continued operation of 2 nuclear plants in the New York City suburbs would have an "adverse effect" on two endangered species of sturgeon, but would not come close to wiping them out.
The conclusion appears to help the argument for extending licenses for the Indian Point plants on the Hudson River, although one critic called it wrong and irrelevant.
The National Marine Fisheries Service prepared the document at the request of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which is conducting hearings on whether Indian Point's owner, Entergy Nuclear, should get 20-year license extensions. The licenses for Indian Point 2 and 3 expire this year and in 2015, respectively, but the plants are permitted to keep running until a decision is made – and through any appeals.
The 168-page opinion, made public Tuesday by the NRC, says nearly 1,000 shortnose sturgeon and Atlantic sturgeon would be killed during the extended lives of the plants, but that would be only a small percentage of the stock.
The deaths, usually caused when fish are caught against water intake screens, are "not likely to jeopardize the continued existence" of either species, the study concludes.
It also found no threat from the warmer water that is discharged back into the river or from any radioactive elements escaping from the plants into the Hudson.
In a cover letter, NMFS regional administrator John Bullard cautioned that the study applies only to the way the Indian Point reactors currently operate, using the screens to block fish from being drawn into the plant with the millions of gallons of river water used for cooling.
Read the full story by the Associated Press in the New Jersey Herald