Nuclear Power Plants Are Pre-Deployed Weapons of Mass Destruction

We should close them all. Now.

So begins an article by investigative journalist Karl Grossman published at CommonDreams.

Karl, a Beyond Nuclear board member, reports on the March 31-April 1 Nuclear Security Summit in Washington, D.C. in light of the shocking revelations from Belgium that point to ISIS intentions to either acquire dirty bomb radioactive materials, or else attack nuclear power plants directly.

Karl cites the Union of Concerned Scientists' (UCS) analysis on nuclear power plant insecurity, as well as author Bennett Ramberg's warnings about the proposed further spread of nuclear power throughout the volatile Middle East region.

He cites an article by Kyle Rabin regarding 9/11 Commission Report revelations that Al Qaeda considered attacking Entergy's Indian Point nuclear power plant near New York City on 9/11/2001.

UCS's Ed Lyman published a report in 2004, "Chernobyl on the Hudson?," warning that a successful terrorist attack at Indian Point could result in up to 44,000 acute radiation poisoning deaths, 518,000 latent cancer fatalities, and one or more trillion (yes, you read that right -- TRILLION with a T!) dollars in property damages.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has cited the impossibility of evacuating the 20 million people who live or work within a 50-mile radius of Indian Point as a top reason for permanently closing the two reactors, which are currently operating on expired licenses, compliments of the complicit U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.