Bronx
Assemblyman Marcos Crespo Calls for Senate Action on Legislation
requiring study of Emergency Plans of Local & State Governments in
Communities Near Six Nuclear Reactors, National Expert, Riverkeeper,
NYPIRG, Clearwater Join Call to Examine Emergency Plans
Two
years after one of the worst nuclear power plant catastrophes on the
planet and almost one year after the Assembly passed legislation
mandating a comprehensive review of emergency plans in communities
within 50 miles of New York’s six nuclear reactors, Assemblyman Marcos
A. Crespo is calling for the State Senate to take action on his proposed
legislation (A.2303/S1338).
According to Assemblyman Crespo, member of the Assembly Standing Committee on Energy,
“There are serious questions as to the ability of local, state and
federal government agencies to communicate and react to a nuclear
emergency. In fact during Super Storm Sandy, three nuclear power
reactors had to be shut down because of safety problems caused by the
storm. It is time that New York review the evacuation and emergency
preparedness of communities near the six nuclear reactors located
outside New York City, Syracuse and Rochester.” He added, “My
legislation requires such an examination so that New Yorkers will be
better prepared in the event of a major release of radiation due to an
accident or an act of nature.”
According
to Doctor Irwin Redlener, Director of the National Center for Disaster
Preparedness, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health,
"Safe operations of a nuclear power plant must include detailed
response plans that will protect the public in the event of a
catastrophic emergency. The Indian Point facility does not satisfy this
very basic requirement because, among other problems, should there be a
large-scale radiation release, the evacuation plans designed to move
people out of harms way are inadequate to the extreme. Evacuation
planning for Indian Point remains inconsistent with a real understanding
of population density, likely area of contamination, human behavior
expectations, transportation realities or readiness of host communities.
"
According
to Crespo, “As scrutiny of nuclear energy facilities across the nation
grows and with the revelation that the Indian Point nuclear power plant
is located over fault lines that make it vulnerable to a strong
earthquake, the public is entitled to know that New York has in place a
comprehensive and well-prepared plan that can save the lives of tens of
millions of New Yorkers, including those downwind of the Indian Point
nuclear power plant.”
“The
Bronx is 24 miles from Indian Point and all of New York City’s 9
million residents are within 50 miles of those nuclear reactors. In
addition, two other nuclear reactors are within 50 miles of the City of
Syracuse and its 145,000 residents. Another nuclear reactor is within 21
miles of the City of Rochester with its 210,000 residents. That
reactor is one of the oldest nuclear reactors in the nation, going
online in 1970. Combined over 70% of the entire population of New York
State lives near these reactors,” declared Crespo.
"The
Fukushima crisis clearly demonstrated that radioactive releases from
nuclear plant accidents can have significant impacts well beyond the
10-mile zone currently covered by emergency planning requirements," said
Dr. Edwin Lyman, senior scientist in the Union of Concerned Scientists' Global Security Program.
"Computer modeling performed by the Union of Concerned Scientists in
2004 predicted that a severe accident or terrorist attack at Indian
Point could expose New York City's children to high levels of
radioactive iodine and could even trigger the need for the evacuation of
Manhattan. The NRC needs to overcome its pervasive attitude of denial
and take action now to protect the millions of people who are being
exposed to needless risk."
Hudson River Sloop Clearwater
shares Assemblyman Crespo’s concern. “Given the fact Indian Point
Nuclear Power Plant is located at the intersection of two earthquake
faults, as identified by a 2008 study by Columbia University’s
Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, and that ’spent’ but still highly
radioactive fuel rods are stored on-site in unprotected fuel pools, a
much more robust emergency plan is needed," said Manna Jo Greene, Clearwater's Environmental Director.
"In addition to the chaos and gridlock that would rapidly ensue
throughout the greater metropolitan area, our emergency medical response
system would quickly be overwhelmed in the event of a radiological
disaster,” she added.
“We
cannot wait until a potentially deadly catastrophe involving the
accidental release of radiation by any nuclear power plant before we
realize that New York State does not have available the
first-line-of-defense resources that can save the lives of millions of
our fellow residents, including millions of children,” stated
Assemblyman Crespo.
Phillip Musegaas, Hudson River Program Director at Riverkeeper,
stated, "Riverkeeper joins Assemblyman Crespo in demanding better for
New Yorkers. The 10-mile emergency plan New Yorkers have in case of a
disaster at Indian Point is wholly insufficient and gives no meaningful
thought to the 20 million of us who would be affected. Assemblyman
Crespo is right to call out the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to develop
a real plan for evacuation, an issue that the agency won't even allow
into Indian Point's relicensing hearing."
Crespo
added, “New York must learn from the tragic events that have taken
place in Japan and examine recent storm’s impact on nuclear power
facilities in our own state so that we can ensure the safety of all our
State’s residents.”
According
to Crespo, “While current federal requirements mandate a 10-mile radius
action plan in the case of an emergency at the nuclear power plant, New
Yorkers are absolutely unaware of any such plans. Simultaneously,
logic and historical precedence dictate that the proliferation of any
radiation potentially released will not be limited to 10 miles of a
nuclear power reactor.”
In
fact, within 5 days of the nuclear catastrophe in Fukushima, Japan,
dangerous levels of radiation had traveled 160 miles and hovered over
Tokyo, prompting the United States military to issue potassium Iodide
pills to armed forces and their families and ordering American military
ships out of Tokyo ports to avoid contamination.”
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