Chernobyl? At Chernobyl most of the radioactive inventory at the end of a fuel cycle was distributed to the atmosphere over a period of weeks.
At Chernobyl the core was flammable; at Indian Point it is not. I also note that a 1982 report is based on theory; not experiment. The events at Chernobyl are based not on theoretical modeling, but on an actual event.
Apparently, Dr. Lyman is completely unaware of the nature and effects of the Chernobyl accident, even though there are many thousands of articles in the scientific literature on the subject. If Dr. Lyman were interested in reading these references, which I strongly suspect he is not, since he evokes a 1982 study rather than any of thing actually examining a phenomenological outcome, before announcing that Indian Point is a potential "Chernobyl," he might actually make sense. He could start by reviewing those listed in the UNSCEAR 2000 report on Chernobyl. The report can be found here:
http://www.unscear.org/ Dr. Lyman would do himself well to read some of these, but that would rather invalidate his reliance on superstition and fear.
I really can't imagine what the fuck the Union of Concerned "Scientists" is all about. I can tell right off the bat that whatever it is about, science is involved peripherally. Maybe it's like Christian "Science," or Creation "Science." The words "science" or "scientists" have a certain talimanic power I guess, like "Chernobyl," seems to have as well.
This is bullshit. The fact is that the worst effect of a failure at Indian Point, even an intentional failure, assuming that causing such a failure is even possible, would be almost certainly be smaller than at Chernobyl, simply because the reactor would not burn for weeks as it did at Chernobyl. This has to do with the chemistry of an element of which Dr. Lyman seems blissfully unaware, carbon. (Billions and billions of tons of this element are being released into the atmosphere each year, in case Dr. Lyman has not noticed.) The core of Chernobyl was made of this element, carbon, which, were he to look at a periodic table, Dr. Lyman would find in the sixth position. The reactor at Indian point is made of Ziralloy and steel. These elements can be found in a different place in the periodic table, the transition series.
In fact over 40,000 New Yorkers die every year from Air pollution, in part from the chemistry of carbon (particulates and carbon based carcinogens) year in and year out, under normal operating conditions (as opposed to imaginary failure modes) completely unremarked by River keeper or by Dr. Lyman. (See for instance, Science, Vol. 293, pp1257-1259 August 17, 2001)
Here is what would happen if Indian Point underwent a complete meltdown (an extremely impropable event). Morons would raise a hysterial reaction that would kill more people (in crazed evacuations) than the radiation resulting from accident. The fact is that as long as Indian Point operates, and I'm not counting greenhouse related events like say four Hurricanes in a single season at Category three or greater, it saves lives.
"The Union of Concerned Scientists" is once again demonstrating why its name is rather Bushian in its doublespeak.
You have to be completely crazy to hope for the shutdown of Indian Point. It is really to dangerous to contemplate shutting this plant down before building a nuclear plant to replace it. In fact we could save lots of New Yorker lives and New Jerseyan lives by building more nuclear plants to replace coal plants which now operate in Ohio and other places in the Midwest. I would be thrilled (because of the tax revenue, but also for the peace of mind) to have such a reactor in my home town.