[WestMALocals] Letter from Vermont Yankee protestors

[Owen Broadhurst]

To The Editor

After considerable deliberation, six women aged 42 to 87 went to Entergy¹s
nuclear power facility in Vernon, Vermont to alert workers and the public to
the inherent danger of the Vermont Yankee nuclear reactor. We used white
spray paint with bold white letters across the entrance driveway to warn:
³Danger Zone‹Do Not Enter.² We painted two bright yellow radiation symbols
as further warning and acknowledgement of the intrinsic danger of Vermont
Yankee¹s radioactive inventory. We also hung a banner over the Entergy sign
that said, ³Weapon of Mass Destruction,² an apt designation for Entergy¹s 34
­year- old, embrittled and failing Mark 1 reactor.

Because of daily releases of harmful radioactive materials into the
atmosphere from the reactor and because of imminent probabilities of human
error that can lead to a catastrophic accident, we feel that workers and the
public should be warned. Since no state, federal or local authority has
accepted responsibility for alerting workers and the public to this danger,
it has fallen upon us to undertake this warning.

As a matter of public health, no nuclear facility is safe. All reactors
should be shut down and dismantled to safeguard our future. Added to the
inescapable dangers of radioactive materials within the Vernon reactor is
Entergy¹s reckless 20% uprate, inexplicably condoned by the federal Nuclear
Regulatory Commission (NRC) and the Vermont Public Safety Board (VPSB).

Entergy has acted out of greed in violation of public interest by operating
Vermont Yankee above its capacity. To save money, Entergy has refused to use
undergound berms for its-ever increasing radioactive waste. Instead, Entergy
stands the highly radioactive spent fuel dry casks up like bowling pins
within a few hundred yards of the Connecticut River. Entergy is negligent
for refusing to undertake a complete Independent Safety Assessment and
requesting license extension when it should be closed down by 2012.
Therefore, we have initiated an indictment against the Entergy Corporation.


Sincerely, in the interest of the public good from the members of the Shut
It Down Affinity Group of Citizens Awareness Network (CAN)

Claire Chang, Gill, Ma.
Jo Comerford, Florence, Ma.
Frances Crowe, Northampton, Ma.
Dorthee, Wendell, Ma.
Marcia Gagliardi, Athol, Ma.
Hattie Nestel, Athol, Ma.

-- 
Owen R. Broadhurst
Candidate for State Representative
Third Hampden District
http://www.owenbroadhurst.org