[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]
Re: Indian Point story
I doubt if the Times writer knows. But can anyone post or provide a link to the
NRC study? Or has it now been removed from public access because it might be
useful to terrorists?
Cheers (I guess?)
Maury Siskel maury@webtexas.com
========================================
Rob Gunter wrote:
> Greetings All,
>
> Most of the article is tame relative to the statement "A 1982 study
> commissioned by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission found that a meltdown
> at Indian Point 2 could cause 46,000 fatalities and 141,000 injuries in the
> short term."
>
> What is meant by "Short Term". Are we talking "short term" geologic time
> with the LNT and collective dose, or does the study anticipate an accident
> with short term fatalities orders of magnitude above Chernobyl??
>
> Robert J. Gunter, CHP
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: RaddGuyy [mailto:raddguyy@hotmail.com]
> Sent: Thursday, April 04, 2002 8:56 AM
> To: radsafe@list.vanderbilt.edu
> Subject: Indian Point story
>
> April 4, 2002
> Rising Anxiety
> By BOB HERBERT
> The nuclear reactor known as Indian Point 2 sits beside the Hudson River
> about 30 miles north of New York City. It has the worst safety rating of all
> 103 nuclear reactors in the United States. And of all the U.S. reactors,
> it's located in the most densely populated region.
> That is not a good combination of circumstances.
> Concern over the plant's continuing safety problems has heightened since
> Sept. 11. Increasing numbers of residents and elected officials are coming
> to the conclusion that the possibility of a terrorist attack or a
> catastrophic accident at Indian Point is a risk that is not worth taking.
> They believe it is time for the Indian Point complex with its two reactors -
> Indian Point 2 and the less troublesome Indian Point 3 - to close.
> In February 2000 an accident at Indian Point 2 resulted in the discharge of
> 20,000 gallons of radioactive water. Officials said the radiation released
> was not a threat to public health, but the reactor was closed for nearly a
> year. Last December, four of seven control room crews failed to pass their
> annual qualification exams. That same month the reactor shut down
> automatically after an electrical connection to the plant's turbine switched
> off unexpectedly. Leaks, malfunctions, human errors - it's always something
> at Indian Point.
>
> Casualties from a worst-case scenario at the complex would dwarf those of
> the attack on the World Trade Center. A 1982 study commissioned by the U.S.
> Nuclear Regulatory Commission found that a meltdown at Indian Point 2 could
> cause 46,000 fatalities and 141,000 injuries in the short term. The
> potential casualties from a meltdown at Indian Point 3 were even worse.
> Long-term, the deaths from cancer resulting from an Indian Point catastrophe
> would likely be horrendous.
> The casualty estimates are conservative. The population in the region is
> greater now, and evacuation plans are pathetically inadequate.
> I called the Nuclear Regulatory Commission this week to ask about the safety
> ratings at Indian Point 2. A spokeswoman, Diane Screnci, said the commission
> did not rank plants. But it does conduct inspections and issue findings that
> are graded using the colors green, white, yellow and red. Green is the
> safest category and red the least safe.
> Indian Point 2 is "currently the only plant with a red finding," Ms. Screnci
> said. She characterized the red finding as highly significant and said
> Indian Point 2 continued to receive "increased N.R.C. attention."
> A serious accident or even a terrorist attack is no guarantee that the worst
> will happen. But we all learned as the World Trade Center vanished on Sept.
> 11 that the worst can happen.
> The vulnerability of nuclear power plants is made frighteningly clear when
> we consider that American Airlines Flight 11, as it flew south from Boston
> toward Lower Manhattan on Sept. 11, passed almost directly over the Indian
> Point complex. Then consider that President Bush reported in his State of
> the Union Message that Americans in Afghanistan had found diagrams of U.S.
> nuclear power plants, and that the nation's 103 nuclear reactors were never
> designed to withstand the impact of a commercial airliner.
> Everyone within at least a 50-mile radius would be in danger if something
> terrible happened at Indian Point. That 50-mile radius contains more than 7
> percent of the entire population of the United States - 20 million people.
> It includes all of New York City; the suburban New York counties of
> Westchester, Orange, Rockland and Putnam; Bergen County in New Jersey; and
> most of Fairfield County in Connecticut. There is no other nuclear plant in
> the country with anything close to Indian Point's potential for disaster.
> Its chronic safety issues made Indian Point problematic before Sept. 11.
> Accidents happen. But since the attack on the World Trade Center, and with
> the awful proliferation of suicide bombers in the Middle East, the
> unthinkable is no longer unthinkable. Residents in the vast potential danger
> zone surrounding Indian Point have little trouble imagining an airliner
> diving toward the complex, or terrorists on the ground attempting to
> sabotage it.
> Anxiety is very high, and opposition to the plant by residents and elected
> officials is intensifying. It may not be long before a consensus is reached
> that Indian Point is a problem the region can do without.
> ************************************************************************
> You are currently subscribed to the Radsafe mailing list. To unsubscribe,
> send an e-mail to Majordomo@list.vanderbilt.edu Put the text "unsubscribe
> radsafe" (no quote marks) in the body of the e-mail, with no subject line.
> You can view the Radsafe archives at http://www.vanderbilt.edu/radsafe/
> ************************************************************************
> You are currently subscribed to the Radsafe mailing list. To unsubscribe,
> send an e-mail to Majordomo@list.vanderbilt.edu Put the text "unsubscribe
> radsafe" (no quote marks) in the body of the e-mail, with no subject line.
> You can view the Radsafe archives at http://www.vanderbilt.edu/radsafe/
>
> ************************************************************************
> You are currently subscribed to the Radsafe mailing list. To unsubscribe,
> send an e-mail to Majordomo@list.vanderbilt.edu Put the text "unsubscribe
> radsafe" (no quote marks) in the body of the e-mail, with no subject line.
> You can view the Radsafe archives at http://www.vanderbilt.edu/radsafe/
************************************************************************
You are currently subscribed to the Radsafe mailing list. To unsubscribe,
send an e-mail to Majordomo@list.vanderbilt.edu Put the text "unsubscribe
radsafe" (no quote marks) in the body of the e-mail, with no subject line.
You can view the Radsafe archives at http://www.vanderbilt.edu/radsafe/