"Its fair to say that Indian Point's application will be the longest we've seen," says Diane Screnci, spokesperson for the NRC. "By the time the hearing is held in early 2012, it will be nearly five years since we've received Entergy's application."
Scheiderman's win will undoubtedly stretch out Indian Point's application to the unforeseeable future. Indian Point still can operate legally past their license 2013 and 2015 expiration dates until the NRC comes to a final decision. But if that happens, it would be unprecedented, since no relicensing procedure has yet continued past expiration dates. The way Indian Point, Vermont Yankee and Pilgrim applications have departed from business as usual may mean that the rubber-stamp, foregone-conclusion culture of relicensing has begun to change. But for plants like Indian Point, the question remains: after years of legal skirmishes topped by Scheiderman's winning petition, will the massive parade of protest and contentions ultimately influence the NRC's final decision?
Abby Luby is a freelance journalist who has covered the Indian Point nuclear power plant in New York for over eight years, and the author of a forthcoming e-novel about nuclear dangers in New York. Her coverage of Indian Point appears in The New York Daily News, The Westchester Guardian, and The North County News. She also writes for The Poughkeepsie Journal and The Stamford Advocate/Greenwich Time and is a regular contributor to Valley Table Magazine and the Hearst publications HealthyLiving, Living [at] Home and Roll Magazine. Her subjects range from hard news, to food, health and art. Luby also teaches writing and literature at Marist College
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