"Nuclear Plants: Ticking Time Bombs" Speaker: Harvey Wasserman
About the Speaker: Harvey Wasserman is a senior advisor to Greenpeace USA and the Nuclear Information and Resource Service (NIRS). His publications include _The Last Energy War: The Battle Over Utility Deregulation_, _Harvey Wasserman's History of the United States_, and _Killing Our Own: The Disaster of America's Experience with Atomic Radiation 1945-1982_ (co-authored with Norman Solomon). He writes a regular column for the _Columbus Alive_ (at <www.columbusalive.com>).
Date: Thursday, January 24, 2002 Time: 5:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m. Location: 115 Stillman, OSU, 1947 College Rd., Columbus, OH
"No sane nation hands to a wartime enemy atomic weapons set to go off within its own homeland, and then lights the fuse. Yet as the bombs and missiles drop on Afghanistan, the certainty of terror retaliation inside America has turned our 103 nuclear power plants into weapons of apocalyptic destruction, just waiting to be used against us. One or both planes that crashed into the World Trade Center on September 11, could have easily obliterated the two atomic reactors now operating at Indian Point, about 40 miles up the Hudson. The catastrophic devastation would have been unfathomable. But those and a hundred other American reactors are still running.... There are 103 of these potential Bombs of the Apocalypse now operating in the United States. They generate just 18% of America's electricity, just 8% of our total energy. As with reactors elsewhere, the two at Indian Point have both been off-line for long periods of time with no appreciable impact on life in New York. Already an extremely expensive source of electricity, the cost of attempting to defend these reactors will put nuclear energy even further off the competitive scale. Since its deregulation crisis, California -- already the nation's second-most efficient state -- cut further into its electric consumption by some 15%. Within a year the US could cheaply replace with increased efficiency all the reactors now so much more expensive to operate and protect. Yet, as the bombs fall and the terror escalates, Congress is fast-tracking a form of legal immunity to protect the operators of reactors like Indian Point from liability in case of a meltdown or terrorist attack...." (Harvey Wasserman, "America's Terrorist Nuclear Threat to Itself," <www.commondreams.org/views01/1010-07.htm>)
Cf. Harvey Wasserman, "Atomic Treason in the House," _CounterPunch_ 5 Dec. 01, at <http://www.counterpunch.org/hwasserman1.html>; & Harvey Wasserman, "California's Deregulation Disaster," _The Nation_ 12 Feb. 01, at <http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20010212&s=wasserman>.
"The NRC [Nuclear Regulatory Commission] has acknowledged that U.S. nuclear plants were not designed to withstand the impact of a Boeing 767 jetliner. But the risks go much deeper than that. Until now, the plants were never required to defend against attacks by air or water. They were tested solely on their ability to stop a land assault by a few mock intruders with automatic weapons, explosives and perhaps a sport-utility vehicle, with limited assistance from at most one insider. And even though the plants are always warned about the NRC tests in advance, 47 percent have revealed "significant weaknesses" in their security forces. 'Significant here means that a real attack would have put the nuclear reactor in jeopardy with the potential for core damage and a radiological release, i.e., an American Chernobyl,' NRC security specialist David N. Orrick explained in a February 1999 internal report. 'This is nothing less than evidence of an abject failure by the nuclear industry to be capable by themselves of protecting against radiological sabotage.'" (Michael Grunwald & Peter Behr, "Are Nuclear Plants Secure?" _Washington Post_ 3 Nov. 01: A1)
Sponsored by the Student International Forum (homepage: <www.osu.edu/students/sif>) and Social Welfare Action Alliance OSU campus map: <www.osu.edu/map/linkbuildings/stillmanhall.html>. For more info, contact Yoshie Furuhashi at <furuhashi.1 at osu.edu> or 614-668-6554; or Keith Kilty at <kilty.1 at osu.edu> or 614-292-7181. The flyer for the event is available at <http://www.osu.edu/students/sif/wasserman.doc>. The flyer for other SIF/SWAA events is available at <http://www.osu.edu/students/sif/calendar3.doc>. -- Yoshie
* Calendar of Events in Columbus: <http://www.osu.edu/students/sif/calendar.html> * Anti-War Activist Resources: <http://www.osu.edu/students/sif/activist.html> * Student International Forum: <http://www.osu.edu/students/sif/> * Committee for Justice in Palestine: <http://www.osu.edu/students/CJP/>