Entergy Hosts NYU Students Again--
Carbon-free energy source explored

professor chris gadomski's students from New York University's Center for Global Affairs at Entergy's Indian Point Nuclear Power Plant witness first hand how nuclear energy creates carbon-free electricity.

Dec 2, 2009, Buchanan, NY—Entergy plant officials at the Indian Point Nuclear Power Plant welcomed graduate students from New York University's Center for Global Affairs to a day long tour of the 2,000 megawatt facility on the Hudson River. The students of Professor Gadomski, (far right) are enrolled in the "Nuclear Energy, the Environment, and Proliferation" course he teaches at the Masters In Global Affairs Program at NYU. Students from left to right: Jhelum Bagchi, Andrew Bergel, Elspeth Montgomery, Erin Carey, Reginald Williams, Vaiva Razgaitis, Ann Kim, Rumena Turkedjiev, and Hermon Raju.

Part of Professor Gadomski's objective in coming to Indian Point was to demonstrate to his students the capability nuclear energy offers modern society for delivering carbon-free electricity in a safe, competitive and environmentally sustainable way. Given America's appetite for power, nuclear along with energy conservation and renewable technologies have important roles to play in a carbon-constrained environment.

Highlights of the trip were visits to the Indian Point #2 reactor control room and to the spent fuel pool at the Indian Point reactor #3--both unique opportunities for the NYU students.

"Gadomski and students stand along side the spent fuel pool in Indian Point reacfor #3.I

Gadomski and students Bergel, Carey, Montgomery and Raju stand on a walkway overlooking the Indian Point #3 reactor spent fuel pond where 34 years of spent fuel is stored. Note the radiation dosimeters worn by each of the students. Despite the proximity to the highly radioactive fuel directly to their right underneath 28 feet of water, only two of the ten visitors picked up a measureable .1 millirem dose of radiation. Had the students gotten chest x-rays instead, they each would have picked up a 6 millirem dose of radiation--60 times the amount they received while touring the facility.

34 years worth of spent nuclear fuel lies quiety beneath 28 feet of water at the Indian Point #3 reactor spent fuel pool.

Underneath 28 feet of water, lies 34 years of spent nuclear fuel from the Indian Point reactor #3. Each individual fuel assembly, contains 204 fuel rods which themselves consist of 240 uranium pellets. Each uranium pellet approximately represents the energy equivalent of one ton of coal. Accordingly, the energy potential of each of the assemblies, stored in one of the individual squares in the honeycomb structure above, is equal to 48,960 tons of coal. "I was told that the spent fuel pond was small," said Andrew Bergel who will graduate from the program in May 2010, "but it was much smaller than I had anticipated."

Nyu students gather outside of Entergy's Indian Point #3 Containment structure.

Not so small is the 22 story reactor containment vessel of Indian Point #3 towering behind the visiting students. Together with its sister plant, Indian Point #2, the two reactors generate more than 2000 megawatts of electricity, 25% of New York City's consumption.

Also not so small is the impact of the power plant on the surrounding economy. The facility provides more than 1,100 full-time jobs as well as hundreds of temporary jobs while generating some of the lowest cost, carbon-free electricty in the state.

The early December 2009 visit was the second time that Entergy has extended its hospitality to the Center for Global Affairs at NYU. Students from some of Professor Gadomski's Energy and Environment classes visited the facility in May 2009.

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