Did We Almost Lose New York? - by Harvey Wasserman

[bananas]

http://www.nukefree.org/editorsblog/did-we-almost-lose-new-york

Did We Almost Lose New York?
MAY 14, 2015

For the third time in a decade, a major fire/explosion has ripped apart a transformer at the Indian Point reactor complex.

News reports have taken great care to emphasize that the accident happened in the "non nuclear" segment of the plant.

<snip>

A "non nuclear" earthquake, 120 kilometers away, caused Fukushima One to melt, and then explode. "Non nuclear" backup power sources failed after being flooded by a "non nuclear" tsunami, leading to still more melt-downs and explosions. "Non nuclear" air crashes, either accidental or as at 9/11, or bombs or terror attacks could rapidly convert Indian Point and any other commercial reactor into an unimaginable nuclear disaster.

At Indian Point, "non nuclear" gas pipelines flow dangerously close to highly vulnerable reactors. In an utterly insane proposal that almost defies description, corporate powers want to run another gas pipeline more than 40 inches in diameter within a scant few yards of the reactor epicenters. An explosion that could obliterate much of the site would of course be "non nuclear" in origin. But the consequences could be sufficiently radioactive to condemn millions of humans to horrifying health consequences and render the entire region a permanent wasteland.

The real dangers of this most recent fiasco are impossible to assess. But Indian Point sits all-to-near the "non nuclear" Ramapo seismic fault line which is more than capable of reducing much of it to rubble. Twice now--in Ohio and Virginia--earthquakes have done significant damage to American reactors. With 20 million people close downwind and trillions of dollars worth of dense-packed property, a Fukushima-scale hit at Indian Point would easily qualify as an Apocalyptic event.

<snip>

Even the Nuclear Regulatory Commission concedes that Indian Point--among other reactors--has been out of compliance on simple fire protection standards for years. To "cure" the problem, the Commission--which depends financially on the industry it's meant to regulate-- has simply issued waivers allowing IP to operate without meeting established fire safety standards.

Unique (so far) among American reactors, Indian Point Unit Two doesn't even have a license to operate.

But Unit Three's is about to expire, with no hint the NRC might actually shut either. So if America's atomic reactors are now allowed to operate without actual licenses, and with known safety violations, what's the point of any regulation at all?

<snip>

[Buzz Clik]

1. "The real dangers of this most recent fiasco are impossible to assess." But let's speculate...

[-none]

2. The real danger is from spending huge sums of money on high tech war toys to blow up people and

infrastructure in other countries, at the expense of our own crumbling and antiquated infrastructure in this country.
As a result, we keep trying to do everything on the cheap in this country, with the easy to figure out disastrous consonances.

[Buzz Clik]

3. Indian Point is not a weapons facility.

[-none]

5. I never said it was.

Re-read my post.

[FBaggins]

4. He just gets nuttier and nuttier with each attempt

The lunatic fringe can turn anything that happens at a nuclear plant into a "we almost lost 'x'" story.

The clear answer to the question in the title is "no"