Critics Pan Nuke Plant Safety as Industry Revival Looms

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/0815-05.htm



A Controversial Nuclear Power Plant Just 35 Kms North of New York City
will Remain Open Despite Fears that it is an Attractive Target for Sabotage
and Reports that its Evacuation Plans are Inadequate.
by Katherine Stapp

Twenty million people live within a 80-km radius of Indian Point's reactors in Buchanan, New York
State, on the banks of the Hudson River. About 300,000 people live within 16 kms of the plant, the
zone most vulnerable to radioactive fallout in the event of an accident or attack.

Tuesday, the chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) said that security drills
conducted in July found that Indian Point has a ”strong defensive strategy and capability'', and that the
private security force stationed there had ”successfully protected the plant from repeated
mock-adversary attacks”.

The news comes as the U.S. nuclear industry appears set for a re-birth. In July, a Senate committee
endorsed a bill that provides loan guarantees worth up to 16 billion dollars for six potential new power
plants. Three utilities are expected to apply for early site permits in September to reserve spots for the
next generation of nuclear reactors.

Opponents of the Indian Point plant, who want it
immediately closed, told IPS that the security drills
were seriously flawed because they did not
include attacks from the river or air. Other than
declaring the exercises a success, the NRC has
declined to release details of the drills, citing
security concerns.

We must fight the rightwing monsters like the future is at stake.

IT IS !!!