Nuclear Power Plants - More Blind Ignorance

I found the following on my local news' webpage about the nuclear power facility at Indian Point in NY:

Indian Point security chief: Nuclear plants akin to 'military installation'

MANHATTAN — Indian Point was built to withstand various combinations of natural disasters, and improvements since the 9/11 terrorist attacks have strengthened the nuclear plant's defenses, security officials told state senators Friday.

"Nuclear power stations are the most hardened facilities in the United States," Indian Point security head Dan Gagnon told a Senate hearing on homeland security. "To put it in layman's terms, it's essentially an industrial setting inside a military installation during wartime activity."

Gagnon and two other Indian Point officials testified for about 30 minutes of an all-day hearing held in the state Senate building in New York City.

Sen. Greg Ball, R-Carmel, who chairs the Senate Veterans, Homeland Security & Military Affairs Committee, called the hearing as the state approaches the 10th anniversary of the terrorist attacks, to "assess the state of security in New York."

The six-member panel heard from federal lawmakers, New York City police leaders, private-protection executives and immigration officials.

It angers me that there's no acknowledgment about the type of "natural disasters" they reference and how they would justify the safety during such an event. We recently had two new faults found in the area but they're still being so non-chalant and evasive about the dangers. What is wrong with these people???

Timidgal

I'm so glad that my Government and the people of New Zealand have been against nuclear "anything" since we have suffered two major earthquakes in the past 6 months.

I for one would not want to be living in a country that has nuclear power stations and what not. Poor Japan are going through what happens when you do have one and the devastating affects it can have when natural disasters occur.

I mean since they knew their country (Japan) was prone to earthquakes why the hell would they put them there?

Just my opinion.

reply to post by misswanderer31
I'm in total agreement with you and I think it comes down to greed over social consciousness.

So sorry for what your country has been going through and glad that there's not the added dangers that existed in Japan.

Blind ignorance or scare mongering?

I think it is the latter.

I am not anti-nuclear by any means. However, governments should show more discretion when deciding where to build them. They should never be built in an earthquake prone country, because even though they may be able to sustain many relatively minor quakes, you never know when a huge disaster such as the one in Japan will occur.

I just wish we had nuclear fusion. It's a great source of energy, but also requires great care to implement successfully.

reply to post by Carseller4
Interesting perspective. I initially looked at it as blind ignorance because the person making the statements really had nothing gain by scare mongering and everything to lose should an accident occur since he's at the facility and would be affected first if any radiation were to escape. Perhaps I should have referred to it as "Selective Ignorance"; I've sometimes thought about what it would take for a person to consider putting their life in jeopardy like that day in and day out and I think that in addition to the $$ incentive, you would need to be able to convince yourself that the hyperbole they spew is the truth. I understand that for some people, this might be the only option they have to earn a living and support their family but for me, personally, I couldn't begin to imagine the possibility of being involved in an event that would put over a million people at risk. Makes me shiver just thinking about it!!

Timidgal

reply to post by timidgal


Yep I agree too and since us Kiwi's sat and watched what happened to Japan there's no way in hell in the next million years that we would allow a nuclear plant to be built on our land. It's hard enough going through two quakes and surviving without having the added stress of nuclear leaks or explosions to worry about.

One nuclear plant exploding would wipe out our country. No more All Blacks, Hobbits or Yummy Chocolate and Ice cream

reply to post by misswanderer31
Plus our cousin Kiwis would be greatly missed! You are right to be grateful that your government has the common sense and social values to put the well being of their citizens first and I wish more countries would follow suit. From this gentlemen's comments referenced in the above article, I have a feeling that the brief hope we New Yorkers had last week that Indian Point might be shut down was nothing but a pipe dream.

Stay safe and well!
Timidgal

________________

It's not just earthquakes that we should be concerned about.
A solar storm in fact could wipe out the cooling back-up systems,
generators, alternators, fuel-pumps, transportation,
and computer-systems for months.
At the moment, back-up systems can only sustain themselves temporary at most a couple of days. (that's if the EM storm
doesn't harm the generators)

That's not if, but when.
_________________