RADIOACTIVE LEAK FROM INDIAN POINT SHIPMENT RAISES HEALTH AND SAFETY CONCERNS FOR REGION

Entergy’s Shipment of Indian Point’s Radioactive Waste Discovered Leaking at Barnwell Waste Management Facility on February 14, 2005.

“It is deeply disturbing to learn that Entergy’s mishandling of radioactive waste from its Indian Point reactor site caused a leak of irradiated material at the Barnwell Waste Management Facility where the waste was transported for storage. According to the NRC at least one worker was exposed to radioactive materials which is not only alarming but is in violation of South Carolina laws regulating the handling of nuclear waste at the Barnwell facility. While Entergy promotes itself in New York as a corporation concerned about low-income communities and communities of color, it ships its low-level waste to Barnwell - a low income, rural, nearly 50% African-American community where a hundred-acre radioactive plume migrated from the waste dump to the single source aquifer for the community.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission should immediately conduct a full investigation into the matter and release all findings to the public, including how much waste leaked out of the transportation cask and what types of radioactive isotopes were discovered. It is also crucial that the agency charged with protecting public health and safety investigate how and when this leak occurred. Based on those findings, the NRC needs to conduct a full investigation into Entergy’s continued lackadaisical approach to ensuring public health and safety.

If they can’t safely ship waste to an offsite location, how can anyone believe that they can safely store radioactive waste onsite? Repeatedly, Entergy has laughed off public charges that it did not operate the plant safely. Hopefully they’ll swallow their pride and realize that this is not a laughing matter. We weren’t laughing then, and we’re definitely not laughing now.

With over 20 million people living within a 50-mile radius of Indian Point, the public and elected officials in the region need to be ensured that Entergy is operating at the highest level of safety. If the NRC cannot do so, the plant needs to be shutdown immediately.”