ML20071H159
| ML20071H159 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Indian Point  |
| Issue date: | 05/20/1983 |
| From: | AFFILIATION NOT ASSIGNED |
| To: | |
| References | |
| NUDOCS 8305240531 | |
| Download: ML20071H159 (4) | |
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Note: Clergy, Religious and Laity Concerned About Indian Point is an organization of religious leaders from Rockland, Westchester and Putnam Counties in the State of New York.
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y On April 26, 1983, Clergy, Religious and Laity Concerned About Indian Point held an alternate hearing on Indian Point at the hhite Plains Library, open to all.
This initiative reflected a deepening conviction that the question of Indian Point's continued operation is one of profound seriousness.
Its implications extend to the continued safety and well-being of life as we know it in the greater metropolitan area.
This anprecedented move was intended as a statement by members of the religious communities in this area rejecting the premise of far-removed officials that they alone are qualified to decide the fate of masses of citizens lheir actions have fostered a sense of powericssness, frustration, and manipulated passivity.
A question so profound deserves the widest possible examination. We I
hoped to provide a forum for facets of the truth that might otherwise have been stifled. liistorically official studies regarding Indian Point have
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been severely narrowed in scope and citizen input into the official decision-making process has been discouraged and impeded every step of the way.
Events surrounding evacuation planning and the safety hearings bear this out.
The emergency evacuation plans were developed with no meaningful input from local officials, transportation officers, emergency workers, teachers, medical personnel, bus drivers, etc. --all who would be directly involved in the evacuat son process. The Fereral Emecgency Management Agency's (FEMA) evaluat ion has narrowed irr object ions to only two deficiencies, most recent downgrading or ignoring many others which would just as seriously prevent successful evacuation.
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. The Atomic and Safety Licensing Board (ASLB) severely curtailed the scope of its hearing.
These were almost terminated last summer due to
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the Nuclear Regulatory Agency's (NRC) attempts to rule out further p'
testimony by citizen groups. Judge Carter resigned as chairman of the hearings because it offended his " basic sense of fairness."
s The immediate catalyst for the alternate hearings run by Clergy, Religious and Laity Concerned About Indian Point was the manner in which the testimony of dozens of local citizens from all walks of life was summarily and brusquely dismissed by the ASLB judges on technical legal i
grounds.
One critical element that theologicans point out about the decision-making process itself is hubris, over-reaching human pride, the tendency to do whatever is necessary to get our own way, to play god, to save face.
Such pride 1 cads scientists to suppress unwelcome data; it leads workers to cover-up mistakes and managers to leave out the bad news in their stockholder reports.
It caused government officials to ignore those who have given them the authority of gavernment.
In reaching a position on Indian Point, the problem of hubris must not be forgotten if each community involved is to make the best decision it can.
It must face the truth squarely, putting aside any cover up or attempt to twist the data. The best safeguard against such distortion is to make sure that all the facts are availabic.
"The truth shall set you free "
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From a theological standpoint, life is an elaborately interwoven organic unity. There is always inter-relatedness and inter-dependence. A decision about Indian Point is not just a political decision, or a scienti-
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j fic one.
It is also a business decision, an environmental decision, a health decision. As it touches the very question of life itself, the quality of life, and the manner in which we manage the works of creation, i
it becomes a moral decision as well.
The alternate hearing was intended to avoid being restrictive and Icgalistic, providing instead a climate conducive to allowing peopic to affirm the deepest, yet often more intangibic values that shape life at its best.
The hearing, which ran fron 9:00 am to 9:00 pm, was chaired by members of Clergy, Religious and Laity Concerned About Indian Point.
Participants included both average citizens, lay and religious, and dis-tinguished individuals.
Rockland and IVestchester county 1cgislators spoke, as did Episcopal Bishop Moore of the New York diocese.
I-Several key messages emerged during the course of the proceeding.
- 1. The common citizens reject the notion that their " expertise" is i rre levant. This was most evident regariling the evacuat ion plans. There is absolutely no evidence of credence by t he average person (Indian l'oint supporters and opponent s alikel that a real-li fe evacuat ion can be accomplished.
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- a-Evacuation planning was condemned in testimony as a lie, a palliative, a deception, a paper plan, a sham. The carefully rehearsed, skeletal drills were seen as tests of littic more than sirens and inadequate communication systems.
It was noted that the utilities promise evacuation in 8 to 10 hour1.157407e-4 days <br />0.00278 hours <br />1.653439e-5 weeks <br />3.805e-6 months <br />s--unrealistic in a worst case situation and far short of the speed a fast-developing accident might necessitate.
Local officials have informally admitted that sheltering would be their only alternative under such circumstances and have considered designating church basements for sheltering. The arbitrary ten-mile limit was repeatedly condemned, as was the glossing over of inadequate roads, both busing procedures for Westchester school children, and the desperately inadequate health care capability in our area.
- 2. Remcrks by many witnesses reficcted a lack of confidence in the constant reassurances of the utilities about the very low probability of an accident ever occuring. Recurring accidents, malfunctions, and repairs that cause constant shutdowns at Indian Point are reminders that major accidents have occurred and can again.
Scientists and engineers, govern-ment officials, and technical studies, including NRC studies, have estab-lished how catastrophic such an accident could be at this site.
- 3. The gravity of such an event is so enormous that it places this problem into a unique category. "Ihat is why people refuse to allow evacuation to be reduced to a paper exercise.
For many such tremendous risks are close to impossible to justify.
Bishop Moore stated: "Given the plant and its history; given the area for evacuation; given the persons and values at risk in the continued operation of the plant; I for one feel I would be derelict in my duty if I did not urge the NRC to shut down Indian Point."
j Clergy, Religious and Laity Concerned About Indian Point espouse and support of the following principles by religious communities and bodies:
- 1. The value of hummi life is the supreme value and should be given the highest consideration in weighing the future of Indian Point.
- 2. liumankind has been placed on this carth as a steward of God's creation. The liudson River Valley is an irreplaceable and unique world treasure which economic profits no matter how great cannot justify putting at serious risk of longterm radiological contamination.
- 3. Because a responsive government in a democracy depends on active involvement of its citizens and because there are serious moral consider-ations in this matter, all men of good faith, and especially members of religious communities and their Icaders, should seriously evaluate this question in the light of sound meral principles.
- 4. There should be an immediate temporary shutdown of Indian Point II and III and they should only be allowed to reopen if and when the following condit ions have been met :
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, a. A realistic, workabic evacuation plan shall be developed and fully tested--one which is free of all serious deficiencies, including those now being ignored by F131A;
- b. Both reactors shall meet all the same upgraded standards of safety, design, and equipment that are currently reqaired of new plants for licensing and operation; c.
All of the several dozen generic safety problems aircady identified by the NRC shall have been tested and resolved in both reactors;
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- d. The results of the ASLB hearing shall be compiled and published, and all significant safety problems identified in them shall be resolved.
- c. A safe disposition of all nuclear waste products of the plants shall be found.
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