IPSEC - Riverkeeper PRESS RELEASE
FOR RELEASE:
FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:
Date: October 20, 2004
Mark Jacobs: 914-906-9974
Lisa Rainwater: 845-424-4149, ext. 221
Coalition Criticizes New Indian Point Emergency Booklet
New Booklet, Recently Released, Fails to Provide New Yorkers with the Real
Information Necessary in the Event of Nuclear Disaster
Booklet Raises More Questions Than It Answers
White Plains, NY In an analysis released today, the Indian Point Safe
Energy Coalition criticizes the new Indian Point emergency planning booklet,
distributed over the summer to people living within 10 miles of the nuclear
power reactors at Indian Point. Area residents returning from their summer
vacations likely found this booklet in their mail.
The green and orange covered booklet, entitled "Community Emergency
Planning for Indian Point: A Guide for You and Your Family," was prepared
through a joint initiative by Entergy Nuclear Northeast, the New York State
Disaster Preparedness Commission and the four counties that fall within the
10-mile emergency planning zone. This booklet provides general information
about what to do in the event of a radiological disaster as well as specific
information about nuclear preparedness for Indian Point. Entergy pays for the
production and distribution of the emergency booklet.
The emergency booklet is Westchester, Rockland, Orange and Putnam Counties'
primary vehicle for disseminating information regarding Indian Point.
Therefore, the booklet's drawbacks are all the more troubling.
Mark Jacobs from IPSEC stated: "It is unacceptable for this booklet to be
distributed as public information while it provides false assurances and
leaves out vital information which would be helpful to residents and
business-owners."
Lisa Rainwater van Suntum of Riverkeeper's Indian Point Campaign commented,
"The public has the right to a comprehensive document that provides them
with two things: accurate information on radiological emergency preparedness
and accurate information on the potential risks posed by Indian Point. In the
recently released booklets, Entergy has yet again misrepresented the facts.
Indian Point's reactors may be designed differently than Chernobyl but that
doesn't make the radiation any less dangerous. While the reactors at Indian
Point have domes that could contain a release of radiation, the spent fuel
pools do not. A large release of radiation from the spent fuel pools could
dwarf the health consequences witnessed from Chernobyl."
Aton Edwards, from the International Preparedness Network, said, "A
large-scale accident triggered by a natural disaster, technological emergency,
or act of terrorism at the Indian Point Nuclear Power facility could kill and
seriously injure hundreds of thousands of tri-state area residents, force a
mass evacuation of New York City and contaminate thousands of square miles of
land for centuries. Are the 951 MWe from reactor 2 & 965 MWe from reactor
3 worth this risk?"
The 2003 report issued by James Lee Witt Associates was highly critical of the
2002 emergency booklet. While IPSEC acknowledges that the emergency booklet
has been improved since the 2002 version, there is much room for further
improvement.
Key Findings from the IPSEC analysis:
The emergency booklet provides false assurances, particularly by assuming that
there will be adequate time for emergency planners and first responders to
implement protective actions to safeguard the public. However, scenarios
involving a fast-breaking release of radiation, coordinated terrorist attacks,
and/or severe traffic congestion would inhibit the ability to evacuate and
shelter members of the public ¡V particularly children and special needs
people ¡V in a timely fashion to adequately protect them from exposure to
unsafe levels of radiation.
The emergency booklet is based on a flawed federal policy which limits the
emergency planning zone to a 10-mile radius rather than a 50-mile radius.
However, federal government studies acknowledge that radiation can travel well
beyond the 10-mile radius and cause prompt and latent cancer fatalities. In
fact, the federal government describes the 50-mile radius around a nuclear
plant as the Ingestion Zone. The Ingestion Zone is the area within which
people could be at risk if they eat or drink contaminated food or water.
The American Thyroid Association states in a website position statement
pertaining to the distribution of Potassium Iodide tablets that "No one
can predict how far radioactive iodine might spread after being released in a
fallout cloud from a nuclear power plant during an accident or attack."
Furthermore, the federal policy of a 10-mile emergency planning zone is
contradicted by both academic research and the experience at Three Mile Island
which demonstrates there will be significant self-evacuation, or shadow
evacuation, outside of the 10-mile zone. This only reinforces the importance
of having an emergency plan in place that will help to guide those living and
working within a 50-mile radius of the plant. The emergency booklet should be
distributed throughout the 50-mile radius.
The emergency booklet contains several examples of industry propaganda,
especially on the subject of radiation, that have no place in this public
information document. The booklet ignores the fact that exposure to radiation,
whether natural or man-made, is cumulative. Instead the booklet argues that
since our exposure to man-made sources of radiation is less than our exposure
to natural sources, we don't have to be concerned.
It is scientifically established that every exposure to radiation increases
the risk of damage to tissues, cells, DNA and other vital molecules. Each
exposure potentially can cause programmed cell death, genetic mutations,
cancers, leukemia, birth defects, and reproductive, immune and endocrine
system disorders. Government regulations allow radioactive water, gases and
particles to be released from Indian Point nuclear power plant to the
environment containing "permissible" levels of contamination.
However, since there is no safe threshold to exposure to radiation,
permissible does not mean safe. Furthermore, anthropogenic (man-made)
radioactive elements, like that produced by nuclear power plants, pose unique
hazards not found in nature. While human life has evolved with natural sources
of radiation, humans have been exposed to anthropogenic radiation for a
relatively short period of time - about 60 years - and the impact of this
man-made radiation on human health is not yet fully understood.
To read the full critique, go to: http://riverkeeper.org/campaign.php/indian_point/the_facts/999
Indian Point Safe Energy Coalition (IPSEC). IPSEC is a coalition of
sixty-seven civic, environmental, health and public policy organizations that
formed in response to a flood of citizen concerns about the safety of Indian
Point nuclear power plants after the terrorist attacks on 9.11.01. Our goal is
to ensure the safety and security of our neighborhoods by bringing about the
immediate closure of Indian Point and its safe and orderly decommissioning.
For a list of member organizations, please go to: www.IPSECinfo.org
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