ML20040F469
| ML20040F469 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Indian Point  |
| Issue date: | 02/08/1982 |
| From: | Besson L, Eberhardt K, Heijmen H AFFILIATION NOT ASSIGNED |
| To: | |
| References | |
| NUDOCS 8202090233 | |
| Download: ML20040F469 (5) | |
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Limited Appearance Statement of United Citizens.b;ainst Nukes (UC.L9)N, e? - cf CN
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A Connecticut Group Given by Louise Besson -'New - 4daan ES $O2*f d <;; w T r.~ r a 6
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in lower Fairfield County, Connec t h gd Our group has its members Those of us who draf ted this statement live in New Canaan and Silton.
then one of us clocked the distance f rom Indian Point to her house it was about 34 miles by the vinding road. As the crow flies and the vind blows, the distance is considerably less.
So, in case of any significant emission of radiation from tne Indian Point Plant, and depending on the wind direction at tne time, we could be directly in the pata of a radiation plume.
Jr. Arnold Sternglass has written about the radiation effects af ter the Three Mile Island (TMI) _
accident.
He took statistics on infant mortality from Harrisburg on East.
He was looking to see where infant mortality rates had risen sharply during the months af ter the TM1 accident.
He was able to plot a vide plume of radiation f rom TM1 up the coast of New r:ngland from the statistic figures of rising mortality.
The sharp rise peaked in July, four months af ter the accident.
Dr. Sternglass believes that the radiation affected the deve;op-inf ants ' thyroids, and this caused their deats in utero or immediately af ter, f or no apparent other cause.
If infants were born dead as a result of the radia ti on, then we contend tnat our reservoirs and our vege table gardens and our cows were also exposed, he do not consider taese deatns of babies tolerable side ef fect of a def ective nuclear reactor.
Nor do we relish thought of tne cancers vnica vill probably develop as a side effect of the the IMI accident.
he consider tnat the Indian Point facility has proved itself to be defective in many ways in recent years and we have repeatedly made our feelings known to the NRC.
Se earnestly cesire tcat tais old and f aulty f acility be closed down bef ore a disaster occurs.
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Playing tne senario for a real disaster at tfie Indian Point Plant s,
s gi s.ha. probab27 been avoided as sometniiig too garian to contemplate.
The elec-s1 N
x;. i1ric companies don't m.\\ts to admit that, accidents can happen.
They persist 4.s f
8 in P.diertising -tht + nuclear power never killed a single human being in its
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%ng hiitdry./sud that' accidents, simply cannot occur.
But accidents have r
.w occurrea, human oiings have been killed, directly at Idaho Falls in 1961, k
q sjvhen f our workers metstheir death, and todirectly all tne way from.imerican N,
s Indians neur'urusium Mines to the inf ants born dead af ter T111.
's Let es loos at a scenario of what to do in case of an accident at Indian ~ Point.
In the-first place, vould the Indian Point workers tell the NRC rignt away TJ.at they were in trouble?, Lad would they ask for help?
Nez.t, who would notify the town authoritias of Buchanan and Peekskill, or the police, or ths radio stations?. And having done these things, how would one control the resultant panic? The floods of phone calls? The jacmed roads? We are assuming inat some people vill decide to get out of the area se fast as possible with a rec 21ess disregard for the nazards of radiation plumes and other pe'aple on the road.
The Nuclear Industry and the.inti-Nuxers have been talking at cross
- parposes, when the word " radiation" is used, the ladus try c.eans only gamca rays;.tha Anti-Nukers mean not only gamma rays but also the alpha and beta particles - minute, irradiated, dus tlike.
hhen the Union of Concerned Scientis es tell us tnat f rom normal operation of a plant,alpna and beta l
l particles are er,caping and getting into us via the water, plants and cows '
It is a mys tery to us why tne nuclear industry pooh-milk, we believe tnem.
I poohs this concept.
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.o UCAN s tatement page three We think Con Ed should try to prove that alpha and beta particles are not showing up in the environment and that the incidence of cancer is not vising gradually in the towns around Indian Point in a 35-mile radius.
Depending on the direction of tue wind and the time of day, many towns full hith a Dest wind Ridge-of people may be af fected by the alphas and betas.
field and Danbury are reached.
With North and Northwes t, Ossining, Mt.Kisco, Tarrytown and White Plains. And with any southerly wind Peekskill is right With the money available for cancer research it would be important there.
to us all f or someone to compile statistics on the cancers diagnosed in Most of the towns affected by down-winds from Indian Point have
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this area.
hospitals.
Perhaps they would assist in the s tudy.
When we had our summer demonstration at Indian Point in 1979, many of us released balloons to see where they would go.
They headed straight off over the reservoir areas.
These reservoirs feed New York City.
When Speaking cf down-winds, here is a dramatic illustration.
raking leaves in our New Canaan back yard a few years ago, my husband found a balloon with a ticket attached to it saying it came from North Bergen, New Jersey, sent two days ago as a project with a science teacner, and asking l
finder to report to sender where it had been found.
For this reason we feel 1
that a much larger segment of the surrounding country can be affected by l
accidents from nuclear plants.
If for a balloon we substitute alphas and is to betas, we feel that Indian Point is as much of a threat to us as it the people of Buchanan.
he do not even trust the operators of Indian Point What we see here and all to tell us vnen there has been some sort of event.
over tne country, is an attempt to hush up the event.
Very reluc tant ad-missions are drawn out over days at a time, far too late for anyone to taxe any sort of precaution.
UC N statement page four We understand that a nuclear reactor must be vented periodically during normal operation.
Can Con Ed prove tnat absolutely no alpna or beta particles are released in these routine ventings? he feel tnat tne Nuclear Industry had no business to begin operating before more tests were run on the various escapes that migat occur.
he very much resent having been human subjects for the nuclear experiment.
W4 think you will agree that some natural disasters are beyond the reach of human preparation, like the eruption. of Mount St. Helens, or tidal waves, or earthquakes.
Ve consider that an old and tired nuclear reac tor even 35 miles away could become a disaster like tuese in its own way.
And there would be no calling it back.
The released plutonium would be for ever. Nobody could assess the extent of the disaster at first. Nobody really knows how bad it might actually be.
It vill take decades to discover what really happened to tne environment af ter TMI, and it could be the same or vorse here at Indian Point.
hould you gentlemen of the NRC and of Con Ed want to have a vors t scenario disaster on your consciences?
A power plant was originally intended for a benefit to society, but if it becomes a threat to health and safety it is no longer any benefit.
We deplore this Titanic-is-unsinkable attitude of allowing Indian Point to l
l continue operating when it develops cracks, and leaks, and shows signs of l
corrosion.
Ilow ecnnomical can it be nov, if one or other of the three reactors is shut dcyn f or frequent periods of time?
he wish we could persuade Con Ed to find other ways of supplying' power to New York City as quickly as possible.
And f or the saf e ty of all of us, that an impartial observer be there from now on until tne whole process of shutdown and decommissioning has been completed.
l
,g UCAN s ta tement page fivt Ever This statement reflects our feelings harbored for many years.
since the Union of Concerned Scientists first made known that Indian Point was an accident waiting to happen, we have f elt indignation that so many people living around this area have been ignored by a small group of oper-ators who are completely callous to the possible dangers to all this popu-We also feel lation.
They seem very busy denying that anything is amiss.
despair that we see cancer afflicting our 60Myear-old friends, and despair that it is found in children and young people as well. we feel despair We that the operators of the reactors brand our protests as hysteria.
feel despair that no one in authority appears to have a sense of responsi-f bility for us the consumers and the victims.
l Louise Besson Karen Eberhardt Hilary Heijmen l
l Mrs. Jchn C. Besson 50 St.Jehn Place Nen Canaan, Conn. C6840
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