Wtvr.com reports on a recent fire and oil leak at New York’s Indian Point nuclear plant:
Oil has spilt into the Hudson River following a fire at the nuclear plant at Indian Point. The environmental impact of this has yet to be seen.
Image credit: silvervoyager on freeimageslive.co.uk
A day after a transformer fire at New York’s Indian Point nuclear plant sent thick, black smoke billowing over the facility, Gov. Andrew Cuomo warned of a new threat to the area — gallons of oil spilling into the adjacent Hudson River.
“There is no doubt that oil was discharged into the Hudson River,” Cuomo told reporters Sunday, speaking at the plant. “Exactly how much, we don’t know.”
The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation was on scene in Buchanan, New York, at the site of the fire and on the river Saturday night into Sunday, monitoring what Commissioner Joseph Martens called an oil sheen of up to 300 feet in diameter.
The transformer that failed ruptured during the fire, leaking oil onto the ground, Cuomo said. The oil was first caught in a holding tank but spilled over into a Hudson-bound drainage system after reaching capacity.
A spokesman for the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission estimated the volume of oil spilled to be several thousand gallons, though Cuomo and Martens would not confirm the number.
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