Skip to main content
Resolutions & Amendments

Other International Executive Board Resolutions

For the Immediate Shutdown or Site Conversion of the Indian Point Nuclear Power Facility

International Executive Board, 2003

WHEREAS,

The September 11, 2001 attack on America has demonstrated that a new form of terrorism threatens the lives of Americans, and the economy, property and natural resources on which they depend, and

WHEREAS,

Terrorists have made numerous credible threats to focus future attacks on America's infrastructure, including our nation's nuclear power plants, and

WHEREAS,

Of the nation's 103 nuclear power reactors, the Indian Point plant is an especially inviting target given its proximity of the greater New York metropolitan area — home to 20 million people and the world's financial centers, the United Nations and,

WHEREAS,

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has acknowledged that nuclear facilities and their safety control mechanisms, including those at Indian Point, were not designed to withstand or repel a substantial terrorist attack, and

WHEREAS,

The complex and interconnected system of nuclear reactors, spent fuel storage structures, control rooms, and electrical switching equipment provides multiple target opportunities by which a sophisticated and determined terrorist attack could cause a catastrophic radiological event, and

WHEREAS,

A meltdown or radiological fire could lead to tens of thousands of near and long-term deaths and cases of chronic radiation sickness, devastate the region's economy, and render uninhabitable large areas within the plant's fifty-mile radius, and

WHEREAS,

Given that the plant's only true and less easily replaced public benefit is the provision of inexpensive power during the summer months, and,

WHEREAS,

A temporary but immediate shut-down of Indian Point, especially if taken in with other safety measures described below, would substantially reduce the risks and consequences of an attack or accident, both in the near and long term, and

WHEREAS,

Only a full shut-down of the plant's reactors will provide the financial and political incentives necessary to compel the operator and the NRC to conduct a thorough and credible review and institute the necessary security and safety measures to protect the public and justify the plant's reopening, and

WHEREAS,

There fails to be an adequate and safe evacuation plan, and,

BE IT HEREBY RESOLVED,

By this institution and its members, that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, in consultation with appropriate state and county agencies and officials, must take the following actions:

  1. Order an immediate complete shutdown or site conversion of Indian Point's Unit Two and Unit Three reactors;
  2. Convene an independent panel to review all of the following:
    1. Facility's vulnerabilities, security measures and evacuation plans,
    2. and make recommendations on how best to minimize the facility's risk to surrounding communities,
    3. provide retraining and explore alternative employment opportunities,
    4. The energy shall retain existing workers during the decommission phasing and or conversion phase.
  3. Mandate, at minimum, immediate deployment of the following security measures:
    1. reinstatement of a permanent no-fly zone — for both private and commercial aircraft — from the Federal Administration in the air space within 10 nautical miles of the Indian Point facility;
    2. a defense and security system sufficient to protect and defend the no-fly zone;
    3. a defense and security system sufficient to protect the entire facility, including the containment and spent fuel storage buildings, control room and electrical equipment and transmission lines, from a land or water based terrorist attack.