Tragedy in Japan
March 17, 2011
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Our thoughts and prayers go out to the people of Japan as they continue to suffer through the aftermath of the earthquake, tsunami and the resulting nuclear crisis. It is hard to imagine the stress of the traumatic experiences they have endured, coupled with the ongoing uncertainty of what will happen next.
As all Riverkeeper supporters know, for the past decade we have been working tirelessly to retire the aging nuclear power plant situated on the shores of the Hudson River, Indian Point. There are many components to our campaign to retire Indian Point, the risk of a power failure due to a natural disaster or an accident is just one of them.
However, the events unfolding in Japan, combined with recent studies from Columbia University establishing two active seismic faults under Indian Point, have moved the concerns about a potential earthquake to the forefront.
According to MSNBC’s analysis of data from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Indian Point is the most vulnerable among all 104 nuclear reactors in the U.S. to suffer core damage as the result of an earthquake.
Riverkeeper is calling for an immediate, objective and independent analysis of the earthquake risk posed to Indian Point and its implications for plant operation, emergency response, evacuation planning. Until Indian Point can be proven safe, it should be closed.
Riverkeeper is also calling for the spent fuel at Indian Point to be moved out of the poorly-protected pools on site and into safer dry-cask storage.
Please visit the Riverkeeper site for more details on the Indian Point Campaign, and donate what you can to the Indian Point Legal Fund.