(NaturalNews) Environmentalists are calling New York's leaking nuclear plant "Chernobyl on the Hudson" and rightly so, as the aging plant has been plagued with welding problems. The plant is leaking a drop of contaminated water every five seconds, shockingly including 600 gallons of petroleum, some of which has even reached the discharge canal, according to Governor Andrew Cuomo, who toured the area by boat on October 1st.

Will Cuomo end up severely disabled like the U.S. sailors who came close to Japan's leaking nuclear plant Fukushima? Indian Point's dysfunctional nuclear power plant is only a couple dozen miles north of New York City's boundary, and just 50 miles from densely populated areas. New York State Environmental Commissioner Basil Seggos suggested that the booms placed in that discharge canal meant to absorb the petroleum "may not have been effective." He went on to say that one of the booms has actually been ripped off, so if oil got into the water at any rate, it would have entered the canal. Nuclear control room operators actually removed the unit's number 2 reactor so that weld repairs could be made on some piping, as well as for electrical testing.

Back on May 5th, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said that a previous Indian Point nuclear plant accident "analysis was flawed." The plant was totally shut down in June citing bolt failure. Last spring, officials were making up some of the hokiest excuses ever for complications. In March, they even went so far as to blame bird poop as a suspected cause for a shutdown. Before that, in February, there were calls for a federal investigation into radioactive leaks coming from the plant. The plant is almost 50 years old, and there have been widespread calls for shutting the whole operation down, including repeated requests from Governor Cuomo himself.