The New York Times-20080125---36-650-000 Fine Urged for Indian Pt- Owner
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$650,000 Fine Urged for Indian Pt. Owner
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has proposed a fine of $650,000 -- 10 times the normal size -- against the owner of the Indian Point reactors because it missed a deadline to install new emergency warning sirens with backup power supplies.
The commission said Thursday that it would consider additional fines if the system is not finished in a timely manner.
Indian Point has had sirens for more than 20 years, but a provision in the 2005 energy act, inserted by Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York, requires battery backups for sirens around plants in high-population areas. The Indian Point site, in Buchanan, N.Y., on the east bank of the Hudson River about 35 miles north of Midtown Manhattan, is the only site that qualifies.
The owner of the reactors, Entergy Nuclear, said it had installed 150 new sirens within 10 miles of the plant, all with battery backup. But the system needs the approval of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and the commission said it was fining Entergy for inadequate actions in support of FEMA's review and for inadequate management oversight of the project.
The system was supposed to be done a year ago. Entergy was given one extension but then missed the new deadline. The old siren system remains operable, but has no power backup.
Entergy said in a statement that it regrets the problems that repeatedly have arisen.
We apologize to our neighbors in those communities for the delays that have occurred in making this new system operable, the company said. We are working with the four counties surrounding Indian Point, the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the N.R.C. to ensure that the remaining issues will be resolved and the system approved by FEMA as quickly as possible.
