As it deliberates permits for water use from the Hudson River, the state of New York is considering mandatory outages at Indian Point to improve the health of fish populations.
The Department of Environmental Conservation has proposed simultaneous outages at both Indian Point reactors for 42, 62 or 92 days annually, or some combination of outages at one unit and the installation of a cooling tower at the other. According to a fact sheet from the agency, the outage days would take place between May 10 and Aug. 10 each year during the duration of Indian Point's 20-year license extension.
In prepared remarks, Entergy Vice President of License Renewal Fred Dacimo testified Tuesday that taking the units' 2,069 megawatts of power generation out of service in the high-demand summer season would jack up electricity prices, increase the chances of blackouts and increase pollution from fossil plants filling the gap.
“All of these impacts might be worth considering if outages at Indian Point were actually necessary to protect fish eggs and larvae, but they are not,” he said. “Even if there were a need, Entergy has already proposed Wedgewire screens – a technology that has none of the negative impacts discussed and reduces the entrainment and impingement of fish eggs and larvae more than most of NYSDEC staff’s outage proposals do.”