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Experts: Leaks could turn NY's Indian Point nuclear power plant into Chernobyl-like disaster
New York Daily News ^ | Tuesday, October 18th 2011 | Douglas Feiden

Posted on 10/18/2011 9:25:40 AM PDT by presidio9

Manhattan and the Bronx would be uninhabitable if the accident-prone Indian Point nuke plant suffered a Chernobyl-like disaster, an environmental group charged Monday.

A massive radiation release similar to the 1986 catastrophe in Ukraine could also contaminate Brooklyn and chunks of Queens and Staten Island, according to a report by the Natural Resources Defense Council.

"The more you learn about Indian Point, the more you know it must close," said Robert Kennedy Jr., a senior attorney at NRDC. "It's too old, it's near too many people, and it's just too vulnerable to fire, earthquake and attack."

The doomsday scenario comes as political titans clash over the aging plant 24miles north of the city, which sits on an earthquake fault, and has been hit by radiation leaks and at least two fires since 2007.

Former Mayor Rudy Giuliani debuted a series of TV and print ads last week vouching for its safety and seeking to boost its public image - even as Gov. Cuomo crusades to padlock the plant, saying it poses a threat to public safety.

At issue is whether the feds should grant a 20-year renewal to New Orleans-based Entergy, the owner of Indian Point, which runs two active reactors whose operating licenses expire in 2013 and 2015.

Fueling the debate is the March 11 earthquake and tsunami that crippled the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant in Japan - and sparked fears a similar disaster at the Hudson River plant could make parts of New York unlivable.

"An accident at an Indian Point reactor on the scale of the recent catastrophe in Japan could cause a swath of land down to the George Washington Bridge to be uninhabitable for generations due to radiation contamination," NRDC says.

It could also require the sheltering or evacuation of up to 5.6 million New Yorkers, the report says.

Entergy vigorously defends its safety record and says its disaster planning is unparalleled.

The company said an earthquake paired with a tsunami couldn't happen at upriver Indian Point. It also said the primitive graphite reactor at Chernobyl had nothing in common with the multiple safeguards deployed at Indian Point.

"It's not valid to simply cut and paste from events that occurred somewhere else in the world and say they could happen here," said Entergy spokesman James Steets.


TOPICS: Extended News; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections; US: New York
KEYWORDS: clowncarmedia; experts; indianpoint; nrdc; robertkennedyjr
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To: presidio9

“................... could cause a swath of land down to the George Washington Bridge to be uninhabitable for generations due to radiation contamination,”

I have no idea why that makes me smile, none at all.


21 posted on 10/18/2011 12:24:06 PM PDT by Gator113 (~ Just livin' life~)
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To: Retired Chemist
You heartless, right-wing thug!

Several single moms, members of minority groups, children, and most important of all, many members of the GLTG group were injured by broken lightbulbs or by electrical shocks last year. Why in Toledo, a home inhabited by recovering alcoholics and dope addicts burned to the ground after an electrical fire. Most of them were back in their old patterns the very same day!

So young Bobby, related to the soon-to-be canonized Jack and Bobby F. Kennedy, is absolutely correct. Electricity in any form is bad for Mother Gaia and the most defenseless of its far too many inhabitants!

22 posted on 10/18/2011 12:32:58 PM PDT by Kenny Bunk (Romney: Now ! Brand New !! The Obama Puppet Available in White !!)
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To: Bender2
You realize, Captain, that Manhattan and the Bronx would be uninhabitable if the accident-prone Indian Point nuke plant... were blasted by the Enterprise using Photon torpedoes! Back in the late 1980's, the accident scenario development guys at Comanche Peak had a coffee cup made showing the Enterprise hovering above the plant firing phasers at the containment domes........
23 posted on 10/18/2011 1:41:20 PM PDT by nuke rocketeer (File CONGRESS.SYS corrupted: Re-boot Washington D.C (Y/N)?)
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To: Gator113
I have no idea why that makes me smile, none at all.

Ignorance?

24 posted on 10/18/2011 5:33:31 PM PDT by presidio9 (Islam is as Islam does.)
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To: presidio9

Doubtful.

Being fed up with nonsense might be closer.


25 posted on 10/18/2011 5:38:55 PM PDT by Gator113 (~ Just livin' life~)
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To: Gator113
Doubtful.

Being fed up with nonsense might be closer.

Certainly you are ignorant of NY geography. 99% of the inhabited portion of Manhattan Island lies south of the GWB. Meanwhile, the United States Military Academy at West Point would be closed for the foreseeable millenia.

You might want to stop smiling.

26 posted on 10/18/2011 6:11:51 PM PDT by presidio9 (Islam is as Islam does.)
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To: presidio9

“It is entirely likely that you missed the sarcasm in whatever animadversion I made, which caused you to become so unglued.”

So I will continue to smile. You should smile too.


27 posted on 10/18/2011 6:38:02 PM PDT by Gator113 (~ Just livin' life~)
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To: Gator113
“It is entirely likely that you missed the sarcasm in whatever animadversion I made, which caused you to become so unglued.”

Not only do you post things you don't understand, but it appears that you haven't mastered the correct usage of the word "sarcastic." I got it that you were trying to be funny. Don't quit your day job.

28 posted on 10/18/2011 6:43:42 PM PDT by presidio9 (Islam is as Islam does.)
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To: OldNavyVet
It was called Rancho Seco and while it operated power rates were lower and it provided many jobs. The fact is, it shut down every time a light bulb needed to be changed. Finally the cost of running it grew too great simply because of the idiot rules about shut downs, thanks to the "greenies".

Many of the unemployed plant workers came to work for our mill and they told us the ridiculous BS they had to put up with and the totally unreal rules of running the place.

29 posted on 10/18/2011 8:31:24 PM PDT by calex59
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To: presidio9
"The more you learn about Indian Point, the more you know it must close," said Robert Kennedy Jr., a senior attorney at NRDC. "It's too old, it's near too many people, and it's just too vulnerable to fire, earthquake and attack."

Jr. is a Global Warming nut who had ALWAYS been anti-nuke, so I don't believe anything he has to say on the matter. Not to mention the fact that Indian Point was not built, nor is it run by Soviet Workers. At Chernobyl, the operators didn't understand nuclear reactions, and they let the plant run hot and it blew its top. Operators of American nuke plants are well able to handle issues that come up.

30 posted on 10/18/2011 9:23:30 PM PDT by SuziQ
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To: Kenny Bunk

*snort* Jack and Bobby might be canonized, but only by the Church of What’s Happening Now, and its liberal followers.


31 posted on 10/19/2011 1:59:54 PM PDT by SuziQ
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To: SuziQ
Jack and Bobby might be canonized, but only by the Church of What’s Happening Now, and its liberal followers.

Enough of your blasphemy, Woman!

Adding Bobby and Jack beads to the Rosaries we sell by the roadside to the Massholes who infect us all summer was going to save our town's industrial base. Then, you had to go shootin' your mouth off.

32 posted on 10/19/2011 2:24:25 PM PDT by Kenny Bunk (Only homophobes and racists would object to a gay Kenyan Communist for President.)
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To: Kenny Bunk

*snort*


33 posted on 10/19/2011 10:05:39 PM PDT by SuziQ
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To: Bender2

Brilliant, my favorite robot!


34 posted on 10/19/2011 11:22:04 PM PDT by Alas Babylon!
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