FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: IPSEC Project Coordinator:
Lisa Rainwater van Suntum, PhD
Phone: 212.544.0045
Cell: 646.281.4426
Email: ipsecpc@bestweb.net
THE
INDIAN POINT SAFE ENERGY COALITION (IPSEC) DEMANDS THAT
INDIAN
POINT BE PERMANENTLY SHUT DOWN AND DECOMMISSIONED DUE TO RECENT MECHANICAL
FAILURE AND FIRE AT INDIAN POINT
No more second chances – FEMA, the NRC,
and the Governor need to protect residents today from this aging Nuke
plant that is a clear and present danger
New York – On Monday, April 28,
hours before the Nuclear Regulatory Commission congregated with Entergy, the
Louisiana-based company that owns the Indian Point nuclear power facility, for
the Annual Assessment meeting in Cortlandt Manor, mechanical problems caused
Reactor 2 to trip due to offsite electrical problems.
The unit is currently off-line.
On the coattails of that meeting, a
fire broke out in the high-pressure turbine building of Reactor 3 on Tuesday
morning, April 29. Over 45 minutes
passed, before the fire could be controlled.
The unit is currently off-line.
The Indian Point Safe Energy
Coalition (IPSEC), a coalition of over 55 citizen, environmental, health, and
public policy organizations, demands that the permanent closure of and orderly
decommissioning of the two units begins immediately.
“Unfortunately, this is nothing
new,” says IPSEC Project Coordinator, Lisa Rainwater van Suntum, PhD.
“Since putting these reactors on-line in the 1970’s, the units have
been plagued with mechanical and safety problems.
In 1977 there was a transformer explosion; in 1980 100,000 gallons of
radioactive water spilled into the containment building; in February 2000, IP2
leaked hundreds of gallons of radioactive water into the Hudson River; in
September 2001 a hazardous gas leak occurred at IP2. The list goes on and on, yet again and again, the NRC has
turned its head.”
“Both reactors are currently
off-line. The
sensible thing to do now is shut them down for good and begin the
decommissioning process. How many
more ‘warnings’ do we need before something fatal happens?” comments Rainwater van Suntum.
At the Annual Assessment Meeting on
April 28, Entergy's report to the NRC admitted that Indian Point did not meet
Entergy's goals for station event free clock resets, industrial safety accident
rate, corrective maintenance backlog, temporary alterations per unit, and
unplanned shutdowns. This, in
combination with Entergy’s admission that there are over 2,100 unaddressed
worker-identified problems at the plant, clearly shows why the plant is not safe
enough to keep operating and should therefore be shut down.
Over 20 million people live within
the 50-mile radius of Indian Point. In
January the much-awaited Witt Report concluded that the evacuation plans for the
10-mile radius would not protect the public.
To date, Governor Pataki has
released no public comment on Witt’s findings. Meanwhile, 310 elected
officials have called for closure, and 45 municipalities have passed shutdown
resolutions.
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