We've been bamboozled! Radiation leaking from Indian Point!

This afternoon, I heard the news that radioactive Strontium 90 has been found in in a monitoring well outside the Indian Point Nuclear Power Plant for the second time in little more than a year.

This comes just a few days after Indian Point delivered to the media its glowing "independent" review of the plant's operations. Of course, this positive critique was funded by Entergy, the corporation that runs Indian Point.

Let's not forget that it's not beyond corporations to lie. It's not beyond commission members to cover up problems. It's not beyond corporate boards to purposely deceive their shareholders and the public when profits are at risk.

While the test results show Strontium 90 levels that are about a sixteenth of federal limits for drinking water, it doesn't mean that these levels are not harmful to the fish and wildlife that live in or near the Hudson River.

Entergy's new spin on this problem is that new, more sensitive testing equipment made these "traces" of Stromium 90 more easily found. Of course, it has nothing to do with the possibility that the there are increased levels of radioactive materials entering into the river.

But the testing isn't over. According to the Journal News, Nuclear Regulatory Commission officials will fast-track the testing of a a portion of the sample that they took from the well during the test, so we may not know the full impact of the radioactive leak problem for some time.

Meanwhile, the NRC has granted Riverkeeper a hearing to debate the relicensing of Indian Point. Riverkeeper is challenging Indian Point and is joined by the State of New York, Westchester County, the Attorney General of Connecticut and other New York municipalities and local activist groups. Rockland County is not named in the list of regional governments challenging the power plant's licensing.

Riverkeeper contends that spent fuel pools leak, and metal fatigue and corrosion of critical reactor systems are unacceptable. Riverkeeper says that Indian Point's impact on Hudson River fish populations, and Entergy's inadequate severe accident analysis were ignored by the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board.

They've certainly got a case going forward.