Indian Point Nuclear Evacuation Plan ‘Impossible’ Lawmakers Say
By Jim Efstathiou Jr. - May 10, 2011 4:19 PM ET
Entergy Corp. (ETR)’s Indian Point nuclear plant north of Manhattan would have to close if the U.S. required a plan to evacuate 20 million people within 50 miles, two U.S. lawmakers said after touring the plant with the chief nuclear regulator.
Entergy, the second-largest operator of U.S. nuclear power plants after Chicago-based Exelon Corp. (EXC), is seeking 20-year extensions of licenses that expire in 2013 and 2015 for two reactors at the site. The renewals would be rejected if New Orleans-based Entergy had to submit an evacuation plan that includes residents of Manhattan, 35 miles (56 kilometers) away, said Representative Nita Lowey, a New York Democrat.
“When this plant was built, you didn’t have 20 million people within a 50-mile radius,” Lowey said. “To evacuate people from Westchester, Rockland, people from New York City, east and west, is, in many of our judgments, an impossible task.”
The evacuation plan for Indian Point covers a 10-mile radius. The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission recommended that Americans within 50 miles of Japan’s Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear plant evacuate after a March 11 earthquake and tsunami that set off explosions and the release of radiation.
NRC Chairman Gregory Jaczko...
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-05-10/indian-point-nuclear-evacuation-plan-impossible-lawmakers-say.html?cmpid=yhoo
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
