o the Editor:
The report about serious, continuing security lapses at the
Indian Point nuclear power plant (news article, Dec. 8) is
alarming because it refutes past assurances from the New York
State Office of Public Security and the Nuclear Regulatory
Commission.
Last December, James K. Kallstrom, head of the state
office, even taunted terrorists to try an attack on the plant,
saying, "Let 'em try." He added, "That may be one way of
flushing them out."
Mr. Kallstrom made this statement just before a security
consultant for the plant owner documented that 81 percent of
the guard force believed that they could not successfully
defend the plant after 9/11.
Worse yet is the attitude of the Nuclear Regulatory
Commission. It has still not upgraded its regulations for
defending nuclear plants. One commissioner, Edward McGaffigan
Jr., said he was happy to stand shoulder to shoulder by Mr.
Kallstrom's perspective.
PAUL LEVENTHAL
Chevy
Chase, Md., Dec. 8, 2002
The writer is president emeritus,
Nuclear Control Institute.
