Twenty-two miles away

In 2008, a new seismic fault was discovered less than a mile from the Indian Point nuclear reactors in Peekskill.

As a result of this discovery, the Attorney General of New York filed this statement with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission:

"New data developed in the last 20 years disclose a substantially higher likelihood of significant earthquake activity in the vicinity of (Indian Point) that could exceed the earthquake design for the facility."

Just a couple of weeks ago, the New York Times reported that Entergy, the owner of Indian Point 2, could not certify that the reactor could withstand earthquakes of the magnitude which can be expected, given the new fault lines discovered.

It simply wasn't designed for such large earthquakes because, when it was built, no one knew that the area was subject to such large earthquakes.

It was an earthquake and tsunami in Japan that caused a triple meltdown at the Fukushima nuclear plant in 2011.

This led to tremendous destruction of a vast area. Dozens of towns around Fukushima are still uninhabitable because of radiation remaining from this catastrophe - and they will remain uninhabitable for a very, very long time.

It is even possible that low level radiation effects may extend to our Pacific coast.

So, we in Warwick, living only 22 miles from Indian Point, need to inform ourselves about the status of Indian Point.

To this end, Sustainable Warwick is sponsoring an informational forum at Town Hall on Thursday, May 15, at 7:30 p.m. to discuss the pros and cons of the safety of Indian Point.

Andrew McLaughlin
Warwick