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Environmental Groups Give Indian Point Failing Marks On Host Of Safety Issues

PEEKSKILL, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) - Environmental groups who oppose the continued operation of the Indian Point nuclear power plant announced their safety report card for the plant.

Environmentalists give Indian Point an entire report card of Fs for evacuation, planning, emergency response, fire protections, storage of spent fuel rods and more.

"If I brought a report card like this home, my mom would say, 'Jeez, you better straighten out,'" Clearwater executive director Jeff Rumpf told WCBS 880's Marla Diamond. "What happened at Fukushima can happen here. If it happened here, we're surrounded by 20 million people and our evacuation plan takes us right down into the water."

The report card results were announced one day after it was learned that one of Indian Point's reactors will become the first and only nuclear reactor in the country operating without a license. Indian Point 2's 40-year license expires on Sept. 28.

Environmental Groups Give Indian Point Failing Marks On Host Of Safety Issues

"Yeah, isn't that fascinating?" Rumpf told Diamond.

Entergy Nuclear, which operates Indian Point, said they can keep operating because the company applied for renewal more than five years before the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's expiration date.

"The inspections will continue beyond that point as though we had received license renewal," Entergy spokesman Jerry Nappy told Diamond. "There's NRC inspectors who come to work, literally, at the plant each day to inspect the site."

Nappy added the company has invested $1 billion into the plant and safety upgrades.

The NRC said the plant operated safely in 2012.

Indian Point's application for a 20-year renewal will not be decided on for at least a year, according to the NRC.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo has called for the closure of Indian Point.

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