Time to close Indian Point

NEW YORK--Nearly 80 people gathered at Judson Memorial Church Assembly Hall on April 30 for a teach-in sponsored by Shut Down Indian Point Now! (SDIPN).

The speakers included Chris Williams, a Pace University professor and author of Ecology and Socialism, who put nuclear power into a political and economic context; Tim Judson, president of the Citizens Awareness Network, who explained the process of using nuclear power and the implications of the Fukushima disaster for nuclear safety in the U.S.; and Marilyn Elie, a longtime activist against Indian Point, who spoke about the specific issues surrounding the plant.

SDIPN is a grassroots activist organization that formed just one month ago, following the Fukushima nuclear disaster, which is still ongoing in Japan.

The Indian Point nuclear reactors are only 25 miles from New York City and 12 miles from the city's water supply. They sit next to two earthquake faults that, according to the Earth Institute of Columbia University, could experience a 7.0 magnitude earthquake. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has rated Indian Point the most likely U.S. plant to suffer reactor core damage in an earthquake.

Indian Point also sits next to two huge natural gas pipelines which, in an earthquake, could rupture and ignite. In fact, Indian Point's fire safety standards could not pass the NRC requirements, so the NRC lowered the standards!

It holds radioactive material equivalent to 1,000 Hiroshima bombs, and some 21 million people live within 50 miles of the plant, making evacuation impossible in the event of a disaster. Even when the plant operates "normally," cancer rates in the area around Indian Point are 66 percent higher than the national average. Contamination from the plant also kills fish and hatchlings every year in the Hudson River.

It is, quite literally, a disaster waiting to happen.

In only its first month of existence, SDIPN has held rallies covered by the press, including Japanese television. The group also participated in the large United Nation Antiwar Committee antiwar march and rallies, as well as the Earth Day Fair at Grand Central Station.

Activists in SDIPN have also met with several other anti-nuke groups, and participated in an event commemorating the 25th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster, which according to a study published two years ago by the New York Academy of Science, has led to the deaths of 1 million people.

SDIPN is trying to rebuild the movement in New York City where, in 1982, 1 million people demonstrated against nuclear power in Central Park. Shutting down Indian Point won't be an easy task, as the NRC has never in its history refused an operating license or renewal. But we believe that with massive popular pressure, we can prevail.

Plans for the future include a general membership meeting on May 9, as well as further rallies, demonstrations, tablings and joining with other anti-nuke and environmental activists.

In addition to the senselessness of this particular plant being located so near to one of the most densely populated areas of the world, SDIPN hopes to show the risks and dangers of nuclear power in general, and demand a transition to safe, clean and renewable energy alternatives.