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News Archive 2003 Indian
Point-Counterpoint
Closing nuke plants wouldn't ease terrorist threats, but would
squeeze NY power supply.
Editorial
Newsday
August 2, 2003
The approval of an emergency plan for the two Indian Point
nuclear power plants in Buchanan, N.Y., is a welcome sign
that the Nuclear Regulatory Agency is putting practicality
ahead of politics in its decisions. That's good news for New
Yorkers.
When the emergency plan was first proposed, both Westchester
County, where the plants are located, and Gov. George Pataki
declined to endorse it, citing the increasing threat to security
posed by terrorism. But that wasn't the real issue. Rather,
foes of nuclear plants are using emergency planning in a campaign
to force them to close - much as opponents in Suffolk County
did, successfully, years ago against the Shoreham nuclear
power plant. Without an approved emergency plan, Indian Point's
two reactors would not be allowed to operate.
But that's a political stance that doesn't square with the
region's real needs.
Closing Indian Point would not reduce the danger from terrorist
attacks on the plants, since the nuclear fuel in the reactors
and the spent fuel in the storage pools would remain on the
site; there's nowhere else for it to go until a federal repository
for spent fuel is available.
And New York City needs the power from the big Indian Point
plants; even with them it is short of adequate electricity
supplies, as the manager of the state's electric grid has
noted.
It's certainly true that emergency planning for Indian Point
could be improved. But no plan is foolproof; the idea is to
make emergency preparations the best possible under the given
circumstances. Besides, there is a widespread misunderstanding
that a difficult evacuation of a large area would be required,
when staying indoors is generally the recommended response
beyond a plant's immediate neighborhood.
Pataki says he does not favor closing the plant. That's prudent.
And now that the NRA has approved the emergency plan, local
officials would do their constituents more good by accurately
communicating emergency needs, instead of inviting panic to
serve political goals.
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