Bill Moyers : This Isn't the Speech I Expected to Give Today when Dick Cheney invited the energy companies and their lobbyists to write his energy
plan, he didn't reckon on terrorism or the advice of Harvey Wassermann. Harvey Wassermann
has spent years studying these issues and writing about America's experience with atomic
radiation. He tells us that one or both planes that crashed into the World Trade Center could
easily have obliterated the two atomic reactors now operating at Indian Point, about 40 miles
up the Hudson River. Regulations put out by the nuclear regulatory commission regarding plant
safety don't address that sort of event, and neither plant was designed to withstand such
crashes. Until now Harvey Wassermann's scenario was unthinkable. Had one or both of those
jets hit one or both of the operating reactors at Indian Point, the ensuing cloud of radiation
would have dwarfed the ones at Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Three Mile Island and Chernobyl. At the
very least the massive impact and hellish jet fuel fire would destroy the human ability to control
the plants' functions. Vital cooling systems, back-up power generators and communications
networks would crumble. The assault would not require a large jet. The safety systems are
extremely complex and virtually indefensible. One or more could be wiped out with a wide
range of easily deployed small aircraft, ground-based weapons, truck bombs or even
chemical/biological assaults aimed at the operating work force. posted by Cyndy | link | | |
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