New York nuclear plant emergency plans criticized
Date: 13-Jan-03
Country: USA
Author: Martha Graybow
The draft report by James Lee Witt Associates, a consulting firm headed by a former director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, does not call for shutting down the facility 30 miles (48 km) north of Manhattan as some people are urging.
But it says emergency plans for the plant are inadequate to "protect the people from an unacceptable dose of radiation in the event of a release from Indian Point."
The current plans also fail to consider "the possible additional ramifications of a terrorist caused release."
Since the Sept. 11 attacks last year, citizen groups and lawmakers have raised concern about the potential for strikes on nuclear power plants.
Many people who live near Indian Point say evacuation plans for the area are flawed and want the plant closed.
Alex Matthiessen, executive director of environmental group Riverkeeper, said the report should persuade elected officials that Indian Point, operated by Entergy Corp. (ETR.N) of New Orleans, should be closed.
The report concludes "exactly what we have suspected all along, that the emergency plan is fatally flawed and unworkable," he said. "This is not a plan that can safely evacuate enough people and protect the public safety, especially in the event of a 9/11-style attack."
The report says that in light of the attacks, nuclear power plants near highly populated areas should have different requirements for emergency response than other plants.
"Simply stated, the world has recently changed," it says. "What was once considered sufficient may now be in need of further revision."
New York Gov. George Pataki hired Witt's firm last year to review emergency response for the state's nuclear power plants, beginning with Indian Point on the Hudson River in Westchester County.
"This independent report raises issues that must be addressed," Pataki said in a statement.