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At film sreening of “Indian Point” New Yorkers express their nuclear anxieties

New Yorkers express fears of Indian Point Nuclear Power Plant at documentary screening, Crains, 11 July 16 
A discussion with a nuclear operator and anti-nuclear protesters kicked off a two-week screening of Indian Point at Lincoln Center

The film offers a look inside the power plant, located 35 miles from midtown Manhattan on the Hudson River. In addition to speaking with several anti-nuclear advocates, director Ivy Meeropol gained unprecedented access inside the highly guarded plant for her 94- minute documentary.

On July 8, Meeropol and the film’s subjects, including Indian Point senior control room operator Brian Vangor, science journalist Roger Witherspoon, activist Marilyn Elie and former chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission Gregory Jaczko answered New Yorkers’ anti-plant questions after the first screening of the film at Lincoln Center’s 85-seat Howard Gilman Theater. The film will have five showings daily until July 21.

With more than 50 million people living in close proximity to the facility, the Indian Point Energy Center’s continued operation has stoked a great deal of controversy in the surrounding community, including a vocal anti-nuclear contingent concerned that the kind of disaster that happened at Japan’s Fukushima nuclear plant could happen in New York.

“How do we close Indian Point down as soon as possible?” one concerned citizen asked after the film screening.

“We don’t,” Witherspoon said. “The NRC (Nuclear Regulatory Commission) is the only one who has the authority to do that.”

Meeropol was quick to explain that her film was “not about whether nuclear power is good or bad.” Instead she sought to understand the impact of the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi disaster on New York.

“The relevant questions to me [while making this film] were: Do we continue operating aging plants, especially one like Indian Point, which is situated in the middle of the largest population of any nuclear power plant in the nation, and if so, who or what organization will make sure these plants are run safely?” the director said…….http://www.crainsnewyork.com/article/20160711/ENTERTAINMENT/160719993

July 13, 2016 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Resources -audiovicual, USA