 
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 8, 2004
Contact: Cathy Renna, Fenton Communications, 212-584-5000 crenna@fenton.com
Linda Gunter, UCS (202) 223-6133 x 123
NEWS RELEASE
NEW STUDY PREDICTS UP TO 44,000 PROMPT FATALITIES AND 518,000
LONG-TERM DEATHS FROM INDIAN POINT TERROR ATTACK
Large Radiation Release a Major Health Risk for 20 Million in
New York Area
Advocacy Groups Call on Federal and State Officials to Take Immediate
Action to Secure Indian Point and Begin Planning for Plant’s
Retirement
New York, NY – A study released today finds that the potential
health consequences of a successful terrorist attack on the Indian
Point nuclear plant could cause as many as 518,000 long-term deaths
from cancer and as many as 44,000 near-term deaths from acute
radiation poisoning, depending on weather conditions. The study
was commissioned by Riverkeeper, a Hudson River-based environmental
group. Dr. Edwin Lyman, a senior staff scientist in the Global
Security Program at the Union of Concerned Scientists, authored
the report entitled “Chernobyl-on-the-Hudson?: The Health
and Economic Impacts of a Terrorist Attack at the Indian Point
Nuclear Plant.”
Dr. Lyman performed the calculations in the study with the same
computer models and methodology used by the Nuclear Regulatory
Commission and the Department of Energy to analyze the health
and economic impacts of radiological accidents. The study updates
a 1982 congressional report based on Sandia National Laboratories’
CRAC-2 (Calculation of Reactor Accident Consequences) study. CRAC-2
found that a core meltdown and consequent radiological release
at one of the two operating Indian Point reactors could cause
50,000 early fatalities from acute radiation syndrome and 14,000
latent fatalities from cancer.
Dr. Lyman’s report found that the potential for early deaths
– 44,000 cases – is comparable to the 1982 CRAC-2
estimate and the peak number of latent cancer fatalities –
518,000 cases – is over 35 times greater than the CRAC-2
estimate, corresponding to a scenario where weather conditions
maximize the rain-related fallout of radioactivity over New York
City.
“The study’s findings confirm what Riverkeeper and
hundreds of the region’s elected officials have said all
along: Indian Point poses an unacceptable risk to the 20 million
people – including all New York City residents – who
live and work in the New York metropolitan area,” said Alex
Matthiessen, Riverkeeper’s executive director. “The
time for our elected officials to take their heads out of the
sand has passed. Federal and state officials are effectively shielding
the nuclear industry from what has become an obvious new reality
since 9/11: nuclear plants are sitting ducks and need substantially
more security than is currently required – none more than
Indian Point which lies just 24 miles up the Hudson from New York
City. The time has come for the government to move immediately
to impose stringent security measures for Indian Point and begin
planning for the plant’s early retirement.”
“The data clearly show that a terrorist attack at Indian
Point could have a catastrophic impact on the health of New York
City residents, yet the Nuclear Regulatory Commission does not
require the development of emergency plans to protect this vulnerable
population,” said Dr. Lyman. “A thorough and honest
evaluation of the feasibility and effectiveness of protective
actions such as sheltering, evacuation and administration of potassium
iodide is badly needed for individuals living far beyond the 10-mile
emergency planning zone around Indian Point.”
The prospect of a terrorist attack at the Indian Point nuclear
power plant has been a source of great concern for residents and
elected officials of the New York metropolitan area since the
al Qaeda attacks of September 11, 2001 – particularly since
one of the hi-jacked planes flew over Indian Point on its way
to NYC. The recently released 9/11 Commission Report revealed
that Mohammed Atta, the plot’s ringleader who piloted one
of the planes that hit the World Trade Center, “considered
targeting a nuclear facility he had seen during familiarization
flights near New York.” Given that the reconnaissance flight
paths used by the terrorists included the Hudson River corridor
and that the next closest nuclear facility to New York City is
over 70 miles away, the plant in question was almost certainly
Indian Point.
Although the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has recently
required marginal security enhancements at Indian Point and other
U.S. nuclear power plants, the plants remain highly vulnerable
to air and water-based attacks as well as to ground assaults by
large and sophisticated terrorist teams with paramilitary training
and advanced weaponry. Of special concern is the vulnerability
of facilities that contain equipment vital for safe plant operation,
yet are insufficiently hardened against attack.
The poorly protected spent fuel pools at Indian Point are another
source of great risk to the New York area. As alarming as the
results of Dr. Lyman’s study are, they do not include the
consequences of an attack that would damage the spent fuel pools
as well as the reactors.
Among the report's key findings are:
· Up to 44,000 near-term deaths from acute radiation poisoning
could occur in the unlikely event of a complete evacuation of
the 10-mile radius zone covered by current emergency plans. This
number could be even higher for more realistic evacuation scenarios.
These deaths could occur among people living as far as 60 miles
downwind of Indian Point.
· Up to 518,000 people could eventually die from cancer
within 50 miles of Indian Point as a result of radiation exposures
received within seven days of the attack.
· Hundreds of billions to trillions of dollars of economic
damages could befall the New York City metropolitan area, leveling
a major blow to U.S. and world economic stability.
· Millions of survivors could be permanently displaced
because of extensive radiological contamination of their property.
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