Hearing is being held in a large courtroom at the Westchester County Courthouse.  The room has no public address system and many in the audience had difficulty hearing the proceedings.

WHITE PLAINS – Attorneys for the state told the Nuclear Regulatory Commission Monday that it would be “insane” to have a nuclear reactor on the Hudson River 40 miles from New York City.

The comments came during the opening hours of testimony before administrative judges of the NRC’s Atomic Safety and Licensing Board in White Plains over the issue of relicensing the Indian Point nuclear power plants for 20 years.

“New York State is unequivocally opposed to relicensing”, said Deputy Attorney General Mylan Denerstein. She called continued operation of the nuclear power plant “untenable”.

State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, who was not at the morning session, issued a statement later in the day, saying the threat posed by Indian Point is clear. “From its deteriorating infrastructure, to its susceptibility to terror attacks, to the complete lack of a viable evacuation plan, Indian Point remains the single most dangerous nuclear facility in the nation today.”

A Department of Environmental Conservation attorney said that one “self-evident truth” is that the area could not be evacuated in the event of an emergency. It was their belief that Entergy, the owner and operator of Indian Point cannot maintain the plant safely for another 20 years. The lead DEC attorney referred to “an aging management plan,” a point of contention by those who want the plant closed.

The point of the hearing, as it moves forward, will be to determine which issues will have standing in the actual license renewal hearing process. In the early going, after the opening morning session, it appears it will be extended debate on procedural issues.

Nothing was resolved during first few hours of questioning, which was confined to nitpicking over how the issues would be defined.

The hearings will continue at least through Wednesday.