Connecticut Yankee

[Rrk099@aol.com]

Radsafers,

FYI, this was in today's NYTimes.

Charges of Nuclear Cover-Up Alarm Plant's Neighbors

By JONATHAN RABINOVITZ


  HADDAM, Conn. -- Earlier this summer, Dan Necle did not think twice about
eating the catfish and bass he caught in the Connecticut River across from
the nuclear power plant here. 

  "I felt perfectly safe," said Necle, 57, an electrician. "I knew the people
who worked there." Wednesday morning, as he chatted with friends at a gas
station, he was not so sure. 

  Tuesday, state Attorney General Richard Blumenthal charged that Northeast
Utilities, the plant's owner, had covered up evidence of widespread
contamination, quoting an expert who described it as "an unanalyzed,
undocumented nuclear waste dump site." 

  "The stories about lax behavior sort of eat away at you," Necle said. "I'm
not going to be eating any fish for a while." 

  State officials say the 30-year-old plant, which was closed last year, does
not appear to pose any immediate health or safety threat. But they add that
further tests are needed, and they refuse to draw any conclusions about past
exposure to contamination. 

  The doubts that have been raised about the plant, Connecticut Yankee, are
new to this town of 7,200, where many could see the plant's dome out their
windows and some would picnic and hike on its manicured grounds. 

  For years, even as other nuclear plants owned by Northeast Utilities had
troubles, this one's reputation for excellence provided a sense of security. 

  In 1990, the utility boasted that it had achieved an "impressive safety
milestone" of going five years without any employee losing time from work due
to a job-related injury. 

  It also proudly announced that the plant had just finished an uninterrupted
461-day run that was the second longest for any nuclear plant in the nation
and the second time the plant had run for more than 400 days straight, an
accomplishment shared by no other nuclear plant at that time. 

  "This is a complete surprise," said Carol Bogan, a clerk at Tylerville BP,
the gas station and convenience store. "When they built this, I thought it
was a good thing. I didn't have any reservations. This sure has changed my
mind." 

  Alan Wallor, 52, a machinist at the counter, nodded. "Me, too," he said.
"Personally, I want to move, but I don't know if I can find anyone to buy my
place." 

  Across the street, at Kountry Girl Salon, owner Joyce Dupont said that
after living in the town for 24 years, she felt betrayed. "The sad part is
that they didn't say anything," she said. "Before I had no reason to worry,
but now, who knows?" 

  Others were less concerned. They said the whole thing was being blown out
of proportion, and they reiterated the point made by state officials on
Tuesday -- that more testing was needed before any conclusions should be
reached. 

  "I know for a fact they tested for radiation when the plant was running,"
said Georgeine Zupan, 66, a Haddam native. "Go over to Kruger, and you'll see
that his farm animals were tested," she added, referring to a local farmer.
"He couldn't have kept selling milk if it wasn't all right." 

  Gov. John G. Rowland visited Wednesday with First Selectwoman Marjorie
DeBold in an apparent bid to defuse the worry that followed the comments he
and Blumenthal made Tuesday about the plant. 

  While standing by his earlier comments, Rowland tried to play down the
risk, saying he wished he could live in this "beautiful, beautiful
community." The issue was "more financial than anything else," he explained,
as the charges arise in a dispute between the state and the utility over how
much state ratepayers should be charged for decommissioning the plant. 

  More than $200 million has already been collected in a trust fund for the
task, but the utility has said it will need double that amount. The state
disagrees. 

  Rowland added that in the last three weeks the state had conducted nine
soil-sample tests on and off the site and found only minimal radiation, at
one spot on the site. 

  Yet the consultant's conclusions suggested that contamination was
widespread. 

  "Radioactive contamination has spread throughout the plant and outdoors to
the soil and asphalt," said James K. Joosten, a nuclear energy expert, who
used company and federal records to complete his analysis. 

  Jackie Hall, the gas station's manager, whose home of 17 years is a few
miles from the plant, was not comforted by Rowland's remarks. "Do they take
us to be that ignorant?" she snapped. 

  "If it wasn't so bad, why did these politicians bother doing all of this in
the first place?" 

  Mrs. Bogan, her co-worker, shrugged. "It sure isn't going to help tourism,"
she said. 



Copyright 1997 The New York Times