Oyster Creek an accident waiting to happen

A nuclear plant reactor tries to safely contain more radioactivity than is in the fallout of 1,000 Hiroshima atom bombs.

The Oyster Creek spent fuel rod pool contains much more deadly radioactivity. The pool has a flimsy roof that could easily be penetrated to cause a fuming meltdown.

Who would have thought that the World Trade Center could be destroyed so easily? As for nuclear power plants, we haven't seen anything yet.

There is an official rule. It says that a mere 10-mile evacuation zone is perfectly adequate. This is idiotic.

The poisons from the Chernobyl nuclear power plant accident traveled all around the world. Decades after, only 20 percent of the children born in Belarus are healthy. The poisons from the Three Mile Island Nuclear Generating Station traveled hundreds of miles.

Our government ruled that Three Mile Island did not harm anyone. It was lie that was so big that it makes Bernie Madoff look like a Boy Scout. Three Mile Island released more radioactivity than the nuclear establishment will ever admit. Independent readings by qualified scientists proved that.

Farmers got stillborn and genetically deformed animal births. This never occurred throughout generations of farming. There was classic radiation poisoning with an increase in cancer.

Official reports covered this up. About 2,000 victims were denied their day in court by a biased judiciary. No nation can admit it is killing its own.

Living in northern New Jersey, I am endangered by fallout from Oyster Creek if the wind blows my way.

Emergency Management said that the roof on the spent fuel rod pool is strong enough to hold a 3-foot-deep snow load. How stupid can one person be? A projectile hitting the roof will be more damaging than a covering of snow.

Another brilliant notion by Emergency Management is that if an accident happens, all the poisons will only be blown out to the ocean. If that happens, it will contaminate the sea life that we depend on for food.

I got a letter from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). FEMA concluded that evacuation plans and that ridiculous 10-mile evacuation limit are "reasonable." Is it reasonable that protecting Mickey Mouse is more important than protecting you?

There are no-fly zones over Disneyland and [Walt] Disney World. But it is OK for anyone to fly an airplane over a nuclear plant.

There is a federal law called the Price Anderson Act. It limits the liability of a nuclear utility to a microscopic fraction of the damage it can cause.

Oyster Creek is afraid to operate without the protection of this law. If there is no risk, as nuclear promoters always say, there is absolutely no justification for the existence of this law.

This law abolishes your property rights to protect the property rights of nuclear utilities. Their insistence that we need this law proves beyond the shadow of a doubt that big guns in the industry do not believe one word of their assurances about health and safety.

Why should you believe them or their agents?

During a public debate, the manager of Oyster Creek once said, "All you anti-nuke people ever say is 'what if, what if.'" Shortly after that stupid statement, a "what if" called Three Mile Island happened. Three Mile Island was partly owned by Oyster Creek.

They needed a huge increase in utility rates to bail them out. That was only a partial meltdown.

Radioactivity bombards structural materials with zillions of tiny bullets. It weakens them. This is in addition to serious rust problems at Oyster Creek. The longer the plant operates, the more dangerous it is.

Oyster Creek is old, crumbling and has the kind of management and negligent regulation by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission that proves there are more horses' asses than there are horses.

Oyster Creek has more problems than a garbage dump dog has fleas; I only mentioned a few of those problems.

The Oyster Creek Nuclear Plant must be closed immediately — not in nine years, not in one year, not in one month, but now.

To do otherwise is reckless and morally depraved.
Sidney J. Goodman
Mahwah