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Date: April 30, 2010

Entergy Requests Hearing, Asserts DEC's Staff Denial to Renew Indian Point Water Quality Permit is Unsupported by the Facts and Contrary to DEC Practices

(Attachments below)

White Plains, N.Y. — Entergy Nuclear Operations today filed a request for an adjudicatory hearing to review the legal and factual basis of a recent decision by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation staff denying Entergy's application to renew its Section 401 Water Quality Certificate.

The certificate is sought by Entergy in conjunction with its license renewal application for the Indian Point nuclear power plant units 2 and 3 before the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission. In its request, Entergy points out that DEC staff assertions are unsupported by the facts and contrary to DEC practices.

"Today's request for intervention to the administrative law judges reflects our strong belief that the DEC staff, in this instance, is mistaken in its conclusions," said Fred Dacimo, Entergy Vice President - License Renewal. "The facts of this case clearly show that Entergy, based on latest research and technological advances, is proposing a technology -- Wedgewire screens -- that will significantly advance our longstanding efforts to protect Hudson River fish eggs and larvae while not adversely affecting human health or the Hudson's scenic shoreline. This is the common sense, smarter solution."

In today's filing, Entergy requests the opportunity to address multiple threshold legal issues that should be resolved prior to the adjudicatory hearing on the factual disputes, in order to avoid the needless waste of public resources. For example:

  • Denial of the application is in conflict with DEC's practice of granting of a water quality certificate pending resolution of a renewed State Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (SPDES) permit that assures compliance with water quality standards;
  • As a result of its state required water discharge permit Indian Point presently is and will continue to be compliant with water quality standards.

"Throughout this proceeding, DEC staff ignored the agency's own customary practice in pursuit of this denial, with no indication as to why the department has chosen to treat Indian Point -- a plant which supplies sizable amounts of low-cost, virtually pollution-free electricity to downstate New York -- differently than all other nuclear plants in the state," said Dacimo.

In addition to issues pertaining to matters of law, Entergy's request for a hearing disputes a number of alleged facts that DEC staff cited as a basis for denying the application. Entergy requests administrative law judge review of the following factual disputes:

  • A leading national engineering firm provided evidence of the feasibility and effectiveness of Wedgewire screens and its superior performance over cooling towers in protecting fish eggs and larvae for the 20-year period of a renewed NRC license. Wedgewire screens would be in service approximately 15 years ahead of cooling towers;
  • A leading national engineering firm determined that obtaining permits for the construction of cooling towers is not feasible based on the cooling towers' impact on air quality, aesthetics, relocation of a major gas pipeline, and opposition by the Village of Buchanan, the local permitting authority;
  • DEC staff cites impingement and entrainment of shortnose and Atlantic sturgeon as a factor in its denial, yet sturgeon propagation and survival has not been impacted, and in fact shortnose sturgeon population has increased some 400 percent during the period of Indian Point operations;
  • Entergy provided to DEC staff updated thermal data and state of the art modeling of river conditions from the last 10 years that demonstrate Indian Point is compliant with DEC thermal discharge criteria.

"We look forward to a prompt and appropriate resolution of this matter," said Dacimo. "Once the facts of this case are thoroughly and fairly reviewed, it will be clear that the Wedgewire screens alternative proposed by Entergy offers the state the best overall environmental solution to protect human health, the environment, and fish populations in the Hudson. It is the smarter solution."