Traprock Peace Center www.traprockpeace.org
November 7, 2005: Five reasonable
women from Massachusetts approached the Entergy Nuclear office, on Old
Ferry Road in Brattleboro, Vermont with urgent appeals for relief from
the health effects of ionizing radiation. Sally Shaw of Gill, Nina Keller
of New Salem, Sunny Miller of Deerfield, Lynn Crough of Greenfield and
Maure Briggs-Carrington of Montague. All five are mothers and three are
grandmothers.Rob Williams, spokesperson for Entergy said they would not
meet with the women at their headquarters. All five made comments, regarding
thyroid problems, cancers, miscarriages, Downs Syndrome, immune deficiencies
and heart disease known, to be caused by ingesting or inhaling contaminants
from reactors. They urged replacement of nuclear energy production with
sustainable production and energy efficiency measures, to end production
of nuclear wastes which they say will be a burden to their children and
future generations. Two Vermont women, Terry Carter and Elizabeth Wood
joined the group approaching Entergy Nuclear managers. All seven women
were met by police, who turned them away and cited them for unlawful trespass,
with arraignment set for 8:30 on Tuesday, November 13 in Brattleboro.
Downwind health effects, radiation monitoring, the inadequacies of evacuation
plans, the particular hazards of the proposed 20% uprate at New England's
oldest reactor, in Vernon, Vermont, and healing and recovery are the focus
of a conference at Greenfield Community College on Saturday, December
10, 12:30-6:30. Sally Shaw of Gill, is an ecologist who lives with her
family just 8 miles from the reactor. Shaw's signs said, "My child
deserves a helthy future" and "I want my thyroid back."
Three of the Massachusets women have thyroid conditions. Shaw has attended
numerous hearings to present comments. She points out that the Department
of Health in Massachusetts does no radiological monitoring of air, water,
plants, milk, fish or meat in western Massachusetts, even though Vermont
testing shows elevated levels of cesium-137 and cobalt-60 in Connecticut
River sediments. Shaw recommends a google search in the Federal Register,
which reveals that Entergy has requested and obtained from teh Nuclear
Regulatory Commission a permanent exemption from steam leakage test requirements.
Sunny Miller, Executive Director of Traprock Peace Center went to the
headquarters to attempt a meeting with Entergy officials and deliver a
letter asking for radiation monitors in a 50-mile radius of the reactor.
More than a decade ago, Miller was one of three Traprock volunteers from
North Adams and Williamstown, Mass, who organized a conference at Greenfield
Community College to bring neighbors together with experts concerning
the oldest operating reactor in the country in Rowe, Massachusetts. "Experts
like Bob Pollard, of the Union of Concerned Scientists, gave us alarming
information on embrittlement. Pollard was an engineer who left employment
at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission because they wouldn't enforce their
own regulations. I know we can prevent the increased risks of this uprate.
Public scrutiny, individual initiative, generous donations and expertise
worked, and will work, to prevent license extensions at old reactors.
We need neighbors to speak up. We know the federal government isn't ready
or able to protect us, or manage an evacuation."
12/6/05
Sally Shaw, 413-863-4992 and Sunny Miller, 413-773-7427
