White Plains CitizeNetReporter - Executive Spano Calls for Indian Point Closing Before Congress

WPCNR WESTCHESTER COUNTY CLARION-LEDGER from County Department of Communications. February 26, 2003: Westchester County Executive Andy Spano testified before a congressional committee Tuesday, giving his reasons why Indian Point should be closed.

EXECUTIVE SPANO CALLS FOR 5 ACTIONS FROM THE GOVERNMENT: Spano shown in a recent photo called on the Federal Government to take 5 Actions on Indian Point: More Guidance for the range of possible disasters at the plant, including terrorist scenarios; extension of Emergency Planning Zone beyond 10 miles to consider panic; transfer of security to a Federal security force; accurate predictive models of where radiation from the plant would go, calling present models "fixed static plumes"; new investment in communications, systems, technologies.
ArchivePhoto by WPCNR News

In the speech, he notes the county has spent $5 Million to improve the evacuation plan; says he agrees with the conclusions of The Witt Report; notes that terrorism is the major factor in the need to close the plant;details improvements the county has made to the plan; declares "nothing in FEMA's directives to the counties ask that this kind of scenario be considered"; he calls for the Federal Government "to take control to protect its citizens"; calls on the government to implement the conditions of The Witt Report; and wants it closed because of "the number of people around the plants and the sheer physical limitations of our roads to move everyone at once in the face of a fast-breaking scenario." He articulates 5 actions the government should take.

Here are Executive Spano's remarks in their entirety, provided by westchestergov.com.:

Testimony of
Westchester (N.Y.) County Executive Andrew J. Spano
On Emergency Preparedness at the Indian Point Energy Center
To the U.S. House of Representatives’
Subcommittee on Economic Development, Public Buildings and Emergency Management Of the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure
February 25, 2003

Mr. Chairman, Steven LaTourette, Ranking Member, Eleanor Holmes Norton, my own Representative, Sue Kelly and other distinguished members of the subcommittee, thank you for holding these hearings on emergency preparedness in relation to the Indian Point nuclear plants in Westchester County. As the County Executive, I also appreciate the opportunity to present the County’s perspective on these issues.

The health and safety of Westchester residents has always been my first priority. During the past five years as County Executive, that priority has translated into creating a professional Department of Emergency Services, increasing the special operations capability of our Department of Public Safety, forming a Bio-terrorism Task Force, prior to September 11th, and since September 11th, developing on-going strategies and interventions to cope with terrorism in all its possible forms – chemical, biological, and, because of Indian Point, radiological. In addition, we are coordinating the creation of a county-wide all hazards emergency plan that incorporates the efforts of 43 municipalities, 47 school districts, 43 local police departments, 58 fire departments and the myriad other interests that comprise our great county.

These considerable efforts are constantly hampered by the attention and resources we historically and continuously have had to appropriate for the preparation, training, and execution of the Indian Point Radiological Preparedness Plan.

It is important for you to understand that this is not a matter of academic interest for many of us. My own home is within the ten mile zone. Even the Governor and his family live within the ten mile zone.

Indian Point is situated in the small Westchester County Village of Buchanan, some 35 miles north of Manhattan. There are approximately 298,000 people, in four counties, within 10 miles of the plants; 150,000 live in Westchester. With Indian Point’s location just 24 miles north of the New York City border, one in twelve Americans live within 50 miles, the ingestion zone for radiation.

Before the threat of terrorism, issues about the response plan and, indeed, even the security of the plant itself were rarely raised by the general public. However, this lack of concern on the part of our residents never deterred our efforts to continually upgrade the plan and improve response efforts. In the last year alone, Westchester County spent almost $5 million to improve the plan, train responders and update technology, while receiving only $412,000 back from the utility.

Since September 11th, Indian Point as a possible terrorist target has not only become a monumental concern to those who live and work within the 10 mile zone, but it has also become an issue of national significance for residents throughout New York metropolitan area and in the surrounding states.

It was in reaction to these concerns that Governor Pataki hired former FEMA director James Lee Witt to conduct an extensive evaluation of the Indian Point nuclear response plan. I have concurred with much of that report and especially agree with its call for recognition of the new challenges facing us.

According to criteria determined by FEMA, response plans nation-wide were based upon the traditional assumption that an event at a nuclear power plant would be accidental and mechanical in nature and would evolve slowly over a period of several hours or even longer. In order to provide a “reasonable assurance” that the emergency response plans would work, FEMA established the guidelines and regulations for counties to implement. Westchester County, as have the other counties surrounding Indian Point, prepared plans consisting of hundred of pages, trained thousands of responders, and participated in drills that were evaluated under FEMA’s eye.

Not only have we met the bar FEMA has put before us, we have exceeded it. We have moved forward in a number of areas to protect the residents of Westchester County. On our own, we have for some time pressed for better technology and more sophisticated modeling of the radiological dispersion; and have worked with IBM Research Labs and others to contribute to this effort. We have included more conservative assumptions about travel time than the current models provide. We have set up a variety of modern communications capabilities, including internal web sites for quick transmission of status information. We have distributed potassium iodide to a large number of families in the emergency planning zone surrounding the plant.

But the picture is very different today. As the Witt report emphasized, since September 11, we also have to prepare for the possibility that the plants can be the target of terrorists and that the release of radiation could be fast-breaking. Nothing in FEMA’s regulations addresses this stunning fact. Nothing in FEMA’s directives to the counties ask that this kind of scenario be considered. Nothing in FEMA’s criteria calls for a drill based on a terrorist attack.

The essential difference between the old approach and our new concerns is the difference between “doing things right” and “doing the right things”. In the past, under FEMA and NRC directives, we have done our plans and drills right. But in today’s world, it is no longer enough.

However, we, as a County, have gone about as far as we can go. It is time for the federal government – the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, FEMA, perhaps even the new Department of Homeland Security – to take control and give the counties the resources, the expertise, and the funding so that the evacuation plan can respond to a terror based scenario. This is no longer an issue for one county or four counties or ten counties. Indian Point is located in the most populated area of the country. This is an issue of national security. The federal government licenses this plant; the federal government must take control to protect its citizens.

In the face of today’s heightened threats, the federal government must realize that its guidelines and actions do not go far enough. FEMA and the NRC must implement the recommendations of the Witt Report. However, even if these can be implemented, it is my opinion that the public still cannot be adequately protected. Therefore, I call for the closing of Indian Point due to the number of people around the plants and the sheer physical limitations of our roads to move everyone at once in the face of a fast breaking scenario.

However, even if the plant were to be shut down tomorrow, because of the spent fuel pools, there still would be a need for a workable response plan. Therefore, we ask for the following five actions:

1. FEMA and the NRC must get out of their traditional rut and provide guidance for a range of possible disasters at the plant that include fast breaking, terrorist-initiated scenarios. In general, FEMA must become directly involved with emergency planning, rather than insist on an evaluator’s role, above the fray.

2. The emergency planning zone around the plant should be extended beyond ten miles. Whether FEMA and the NRC agree that the radioactive fallout can extend beyond ten miles is beside the point. In a densely populated area, people who live beyond ten miles will take actions – like self-evacuation – which would have a severe impact on the success or failure of the emergency response plans.

3. The responsibility for security around the plants must be immediately transferred from the corporate operators, Entergy, to a Federal security force. Security is bound to be viewed as a cost burden to a profit-oriented corporation like Entergy. Moreover, there are limits to the firepower that a private company can use to protect the plant. Only the Federal government has the resources and authority to deploy the protection needed on land, on the water and from the air.

4. The NRC must use its expertise and those of the best laboratories in the nation to develop and deploy to us accurate predictive models of where radiation from the plant would go. We are currently provided fixed, static plumes that do not take into account the local hilly topography and river valley around the plants, nor changes in wind direction, nor other dynamic factors. This will make it difficult to focus on the precise areas that need an emergency response and would lead to a more widespread panic among the public than would be warranted.

5. FEMA and the NRC must also recognize that the new threats to the Indian Point plants will require much greater investment in new equipment, communications capabilities, systems and technologies. FEMA and the NRC should provide increased and truly adequate funding for us to upgrade our response to the new threats.

I will continue to do whatever is in my power to protect the residents of Westchester County. However, both the NRC and FEMA should be put on notice that the lives of the people within the vicinity of Indian Point rests on their shoulders. Please help us to make sure that the Federal agencies move swiftly and realistically to deal with the fast-moving and devastating threats to the Indian Point nuclear plants in our midst. Nothing we do should ever compromise the safety of our citizens.

I would welcome any questions. Thank you.


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