En­vi­ron­mental Groups Hail Entergy Decision to Close Fitz­Patrick Nuclear Power Plant

The closure of FitzPatrick Nuclear Plant in Scriba will lead to the loss of hundreds of jobs and a major part of the local tax base. Despite that, there are some groups applauding the announcement for environmental reasons. But as reporter Philip O'Driscoll reports, advocates agree that shuttering the plant safely and properly must be a priority.

While many are unhappy with Entergy's decision to close the James A. FitzPatrick Nuclear Power Plant in Scriba, the move is being praised by environmental groups, who say it brings many dangers.

"The nuclear energy generation process is not as safe as the companies always wanted us to believe," said Joe Heath, an attorney with the Onondaga Nation.

Entergy attributed the decision to economic concerns, with natural gas prices falling. And advocates say it's the same problem for all nuclear plants.

"They're all facing the same challenges, cheap competition and rising expenses," said David Lochbaum, the director of Nuclear Project Safety.

While FitzPatrick is officially shutting its doors, closure advocates caution there are still dangers ahead.

"The primary hazard at a nuclear power plant is the operating reactor, the second hazard is the spent fuel pool, and the third hazard is dry storage. So they'll be eliminating the operating reactor hazard but they still have the other hazards to properly manage to protect both workers and the public," Lochbaum said.

Heath, who represents the Onondaga Nation with many members employed at the plant, said this announcement should be a wake up call to state and federal officials that the lifespan of nuclear energy has long passed. They feel new avenues need to be explored.

"Well a number of nuclear power plants that have shut down have gone onto life after nuclear," Heath said. "We need to find a way to replace this energy with renewable energy, we can do that. But we have to come to grips with the fact that this market is changing very radically."

But the advocates only feel that the environment will remain safe if the plant is properly decommissioned.

"We're calling on Entergy and on state officials to make sure that this plant isn't just mothballed that Entergy just doesn't walk away from the plant for a couple of decades but instead begins the decomissioning process right away," said Jessica Azulay, the program director at AGREE.