Nuclear power plant north of New York City to close by 2021

The Indian Point Nuclear Power Plant (credit: Russ Nelson)

On Monday, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced an agreement with utility company Entergy to close the 2GW Indian Point nuclear power plant, located 25 miles north of New York City. The closure was mutually agreed-upon by both the state of New York and Energy, although the state and the utility gave conflicting assessments of the power plant’s reasons for closure.

A statement from the governor’s office read:

The aging 2,000 megawatt nuclear power plant... has presented numerous threats to the safety of over 20 million residents and the environmental health of the area. After extensive litigation and negotiation, Entergy has agreed to end all operations at the facility, with plans to shut down Indian Point Unit 2 as early as April 2020 and Unit 3 in April 2021.

Entergy, on the other hand, offered a different characterization of the shut down in a press release: