" Evacuation Plan Is Approved for New York Nuclear Plant " [FW]

["Franta, Jaroslav" <frantaj@AECL.CA>]

FYI, good news, from another list.... 



Jaro 

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ 

 http://www.nytimes.com/2003/07/26/nyregion/26NUKE.html?hp 



New York Times 

July 26, 2003 

Evacuation Plan Is Approved for New York Nuclear Plant 

By RANDAL C. ARCHIBOLD and MATTHEW L. WALD 



A campaign to close the Indian Point nuclear power plant over fears of a 

catastrophic terrorist attack suffered a major blow yesterday when the 

federal government endorsed emergency evacuation plans for it, asserting 

that the public would be safe. 



For years, a band of antinuclear groups and elected officials have tried to 

close the plant, which is north of New York City in a more densely populated 

area than any of the nation's 66 other nuclear plant sites. The effort 

gained momentum after the terror attack on Sept. 11, 2001, when it was 

learned that one of the hijacked jets had flown close to the plant on its 

way to the World Trade Center and that troops had discovered diagrams of 

unspecified nuclear plants in Qaeda hideouts in Afghanistan. 



Since then the plant's opponents have focused their attack on the emergency 

plan, which details how people living around the plant would be notified and 

evacuated if necessary. 



Each plant is required to have an emergency plan as a condition of its 

license, and local governments are asked to participate in the process. But 

this year Westchester County, where Indian Point is, refused to submit its 

plans, saying federal guidelines for such an evacuation did not take into 

account a large release of radiation that could result from a terrorist 

attack. 



That strategy has inspired similar challenges to nuclear plants in other 

parts of the country, and nuclear industry executives said they expected 

that the government's ruling yesterday would help forestall those efforts. 



The Nuclear Regulatory Commission approved the Indian Point evacuation plan 

just hours after receiving a report from the Federal Emergency Management 

Agency endorsing it. The commission declared the plan "satisfactory" and 

said it provided a "reasonable assurance of adequate protection" in a 

nuclear emergency. 



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