title:  A Potential Nuclear Disaster Is Looming In NY State And NOBODY In The News Is Talking About It
text: There is a ticking time bomb sitting in New York State that practically everyone in the corporate media is conveniently ignoring   right up until the day it finally turns into a catastrophe and then we will all be standing aghast asking  How did this happen?! Indian Point, a nuclear power plant that sits on the Hudson River, is experiencing a serious leak of radioactive material into the surrounding groundwater. Contamination levels have increased by 80 percent compared to previous samples taken, which is causing many experts to cite this as a disaster that is waiting to happen.Calls have been made for the plant to be shut down completely to avert an environmental cataclysm and public health hazard, due to the fact that the plant sits just 23 miles north of New York City and could also turn a major American river into radioactive soup.via inhabitat.comThe plant is leaking tritium, which is a radioactive form of hydrogen. Three of the 40 wells at the Indian Point plant showed an increase in radioactive material, as well as one well, in particular, showing a 65,000 percent increase. Not surprisingly, Entergy   the company that owns the plant, is claiming this is all totally safe and it will not harm local inhabitants  because the groundwater is located on their property.  I m no expert on groundwater, but I feel like Entergy doesn t understand how groundwater works. It doesn t respect property lines and will not necessarily stay  in its own yard,  as it were. Seriously, what are they getting at with this statement?John Kelly, former director of licensing for Indian Point, says that this is  more of a regulatory problem than environmental problem.  What exactly does this mean? How can you have a  regulatory  problem, without having an obvious environmental one to necessitate a new regulation being created? The only assertion you can draw from this statement is that Entergy knows their plant is a crisis waiting to happen, but there isn t a law to force them to fix it   so they simply do not care what happens.Governor Andrew Cuomo doesn t appear to be accepting the assertion that there is  nothing to see here,  and is pressing state officials to fully investigate Indian Point and employ  all available measures, including working with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to determine the extent of the release, its likely duration, cause, and potential impacts to the environment and public health. To say this could be monumental in scope is an understatement. Not only is New York City in the range of a potential disaster, but as the map above shows Connecticut and New Jersey are in range as well. The plant is directly in the center of one of the largest population concentrations in America where vital infrastructure hubs are located. If this would all suddenly get bad, there s no way to even estimate the full extent of the consequences.Featured image via riverkeeper