Feds to update nuke impact on Hudson River

WHITE PLAINS -- Federal regulators are taking another look at the effect of nuclear plants on the Hudson River and the organisms that live there.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission announced Thursday that new information has arisen involving aquatic life, so it plans to update its study of the environmental impact of the Indian Point reactors in Buchanan.

The impact study is a key element in the NRC's looming decision on whether to grant new licenses for Indian Point, which is 35 miles north of Manhattan.

NRC spokesman Neil Sheehan said that among the developments that will be considered is the recent designation of the Atlantic sturgeon as an endangered species.

The NRC said there is also new information about how fish and other organisms are trapped against the nuclear plants' screens or sucked into the plant with cooling water.

A third element to be looked at is how the water discharged from the plants warms the river.

Some of the new information came from Indian Point's owner, Entergy Nuclear, which has applied for new 20-year licenses for both reactors. New York State has opposed the licenses, which would keep Indian Point running into the 2030s.

In 2010, NRC staff studied the environmental impact of extending the plants' licenses. The report recommended approval of new licenses, saying there was no impact harmful enough to close the plants down.

The NRC said Thursday it will update that study after looking at the new information. Sheehan said that technically means the recommendation could be reversed, but he said he "wouldn't speculate" on the likelihood.

Entergy spokesman Jerry Nappi said by email that the company believes the information it provided "helps demonstrate Indian Point will comply with environmental regulations under a renewed license." The National Marine Fisheries Service ruled in January that the Atlantic sturgeon, which can grow to 15 feet long and live a century, was endangered in the Hudson and a long stretch of the Atlantic coast.

Before 1890, more than 6,000 females were estimated to spawn each year in the Hudson, compared to about 600 now. The fish was coveted for its caviar.

The short-nose sturgeon is also endangered in the Hudson.