Indian Point nuke plant lacking firefighting equipment, officials say public doesn't understand

Snoutport

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Sun May-22-11 12:48 PM
Original message

Indian Point nuke plant lacking firefighting equipment, officials say public doesn't understand

Oh, we understand alright. We understand that your bosses get rich whether their nuclear plants destroy the planet or not. Why buy fire equipment when you can give that money as a bonus to the CEO?

Our nuclear industry needs a slap down back to sensibility and sanity.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/2011/05/22/2011-05-22_local_nuke_skips_fire_regs_indian_pt_sez_it_doesnt_need_all_that_safety_stuff.html

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Fumesucker

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Sun May-22-11 12:52 PM
Response to Original message

1. No one could have predicted..

The aging plant 24 miles from the city is missing basic smoke-eating tools, even as it sits on an earthquake fault and has suffered two fires since 2007.

Such safety shortcuts, approved for years by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, face new scrutiny in the wake of the March 11 earthquake and tsunami that crippled the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuke plant.

Indian Point's two active reactors are divided into 275 fire zones, of which 198 lack automatic fire suppression systems, according to records that plant owner Entergy gave the NRC in 2009.

That means 72% of the facility lacks things like sprinklers and automatic deluge water sprays.

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Snoutport

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Sun May-22-11 02:03 PM
Response to Reply #1

3. Terrifying. It should be closed immediately.

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plumbob

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Sun May-22-11 12:54 PM
Response to Original message

2. They just need to be shut down. It's an old, dirty, dangerous technology,

and about the most expensive method ever devised to boil water. Never mind the eternal side effects and inability to safely dispose of the eternal wastes.

Turn out the lights at the nuke plants.

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FreakinDJ

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Sun May-22-11 02:10 PM
Response to Reply #2

4. Coal Ash Is More Radioactive than Nuclear Waste

Coal Ash Is More Radioactive than Nuclear Waste

Over the past few decades, however, a series of studies has called these stereotypes into question. Among the surprising conclusions: the waste produced by coal plants is actually more radioactive than that generated by their nuclear counterparts. In fact, the fly ash emitted by a power plant�a by-product from burning coal for electricity�carries into the surrounding environment 100 times more radiation than a nuclear power plant producing the same amount of energy. *

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=coal-ash-is-more-radioactive-than-nuclear-waste

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Snoutport

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Sun May-22-11 02:19 PM
Response to Reply #4

5. Well said! I agree, we should get rid of them both!!! Solar, wind and wave is all we need.

oh, and some of those waste treatment plants that produce energy...those are pretty great too.

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plumbob

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Sun May-22-11 02:27 PM
Response to Reply #4

6. So that means radioactive waste is safe, right?

And the fact that the nation's newest nuclear dump is sitting on top of my town's drinking water is cause for celebration?

The fact that hanging is as lethal as shooting doesn't make shooting good.

End all that nuke crap now. Take coal with it.

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Snoutport

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Sun May-22-11 09:38 PM
Response to Reply #6

10. I'm with you!

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Webster Green

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Sun May-22-11 02:42 PM
Response to Reply #4

7. That is irrelevent to the discussion.

Edited on Sun May-22-11 02:43 PM by Webster Green

Lack of firefighting equipment comes into play when the plant is under threat of crisis. The article you cite assumes normal operating conditions for both types of plants.

The piles of still melting fuel rods in Japan are nuclear waste now. They are a hell of a lot more dangerous than any coal plant waste.

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Snoutport

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Sun May-22-11 10:08 PM
Response to Reply #7

11. Awe, c'mon. can't we ditch both?

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Webster Green

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Mon May-23-11 12:27 AM
Response to Reply #11

13. I sure hope so.

I wasn't promoting coal fired power, just pointing out a very faulty argument.

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saras

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Sun May-22-11 02:52 PM
Response to Reply #4

8. Yeah, tell it to the workers at Fukushima

Note that the article quote does NOT support the headline.

The article doesn't even CONSIDER nuclear waste, it only looks at what LEAKS out of a PROPERLY FUNCTIONING reactor.

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jtrockville

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Sun May-22-11 04:41 PM
Response to Reply #4

9. As a general clarification...

From the linked article:

As a general clarification, ounce for ounce, coal ash released from a power plant delivers more radiation than nuclear waste shielded via water or dry cask storage.

Some serious pretzel logic is needed to draw a comparison like that, eh?

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OmmmSweetOmmm

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Sun May-22-11 10:13 PM
Response to Original message

12. And don't get me started on how evacuation is next to impossible. I live 15 minutess away

by car.

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