Thu., Jan. 24: Harvey Wasserman, "Nuclear Plants = Ticking Time Bombs"

[Yoshie Furuhashi <furuhashi.1@xxxxxxx>]

Critical Perspectives on Wars, Classes, & Empires

"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@xxxxxxx> or
614-668-6554; or Keith Kilty at <kilty.1@xxxxxxx> 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/>