Riverkeeper’s Galley Talks Indian Point

We
knew that most of our 104 operating nuclear reactors were approaching their
fortieth year, but it has recently been revealed that three-quarters of them
are leaking tritium from corroded underground pipes. At Indian Point tritium
levels in groundwater have been measured as high as 300,000 picocuries per
liter.

So,
a mile from the intersection of the region’s two most active earthquake fault
lines and 35 miles from Manhattan, sits Indian Point, leaking tritium,  destroying the ecosystem with coolant
water returned to the Hudson River inadequately cooled, and systematically
releasing plumes of radioactive steam across the lower Hudson Valley.

Only last November when the
reactor was shut down because of a transformer fire, 600,000 gallons of
boiling, radioactive water turned to steam were released when a valve was
opened, as per the venting protocol, but not closed again. And no one happened
to notice for two days.

Finally,
it’s curious that so many local residents could be in favor of keeping Indian
Point open when cancer incidence rates in the four counties closest to this
plant are now over 10% above the national average. The greatest increase was
found in local thyroid cancers—51% above the average between 2003 and 2007 and
66% higher in a more recent study.

As
you can see, tritium contamination is just one of the many reasons why Indian
Point should NOT be re-licensed. I’m with Gov. Cuomo and an overwhelming
majority who vote to SHUT IT DOWN!

[I’m with Gov. Cuomo and an overwhelming majority who vote to SHUT IT DOWN! ]

But as the poll shows, the overwhelming majority of folks who would be most affected by an accident DON’T want to shut IP down. As the late Senator Moynihan once said: You’re entitled to your own OPINION, but NOT your own FACTS!

Alcoholics don’t want to give up their juice. Junkies don’t want to give up their dope! Compulsive gamblers don’t want to give up their chips. We still try to yank it from them for their own good. Plus we don’t know anything about that pole. Who paid for it? The pusher Entergy probably! Also FYI, the late senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan used to lament nuclear power, worked at the UN for many years to eliminate nuclear weapons.