April 5, 2012 - Norwood News -
Rivera Says There’s No Plan to Protect The Bronx From Nuclear Disaster - The Bronx is just 24 miles from a major nuclear power plant and Assemblywoman Naomi Rivera wants to know why there isn’t a plan in place to protect the 1.4 million people living in the city’s northernmost borough. At a press conference in Norwood yesterday, Rivera publicly released her letter requesting state hearings on the emergency evacuation plans of local, state, and federal governments in case of a nuclear meltdown at the Indian Point Energy Center. Surrounded by kids from the Mosholu Montefiore Community Center as well as regional environmental watchdogs, Rivera said she is unhappy with the 10-mile radius emergency plan that Point Energy Center has in place and argued that it leaves millions of New Yorkers in danger. “The Bronx is the closest borough in New York City to Indian Point,” Rivera said. “Yet our city has no evacuation plan in place.” Rivera also spoke about the state’s need to stockpile potassium iodide pills for distribution to residents within a 50-mile radius of Indian Point.
April 5, 2012 - San Diego Union-Tribune - Power shortages loom with idled Calif. nuke plant - It will take more than the flip of a switch to replace power lost from the troubled San Onofre nuclear plant. The twin reactors located between San Diego and Los Angeles have been idled while investigators determine why tubing carrying radioactive water is eroding at an unusual rate, and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission chairman will visit the plant Friday to highlight the agency's concern over the ailing equipment. San Onofre can generate enough electricity for 1.4 million homes, but it could take up to two months to restart two retired power plants in Huntington Beach that have been pinpointed as an important source of replacement power, officials said Wednesday. State energy officials have already warned of rotating blackouts in the region if a heat wave hits and San Onofre stays dark, and plans for replacement power remain shaky. Also, the loss of the nuclear plant makes it harder to import power into the San Diego area, where reliable energy transmission has long been at issue. "There is the potential for service interruptions. I could definitely see some customers being curtailed," said Michael Shames, executive director of advocacy group Utility Consumers' Action Network.