TESTIMONY OF JOSEPH J. MANGANO
TO THE U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
ON THE DRAFT SUPPLEMENTAL ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENT
REGARDING LICENSE RENEWAL
FOR THE INDIAN POINT 2 AND 3 NUCLEAR REACTORS

Cortlandt Manor NY
February 12, 2009

I’m Joseph Mangano, Executive Director of the Radiation and Public Health Project. Scientists and health professionals in our group have published 23 medical journal articles and 7 books on health risks from nuclear reactors.

The DSEIS assumes that since routine emissions from Indian Point are below federally permitted limits, there were no health risks in the past, and won’t be in the next 20 years. There is no hard evidence, no statistical data, in the DSEIS to support this assumption.

Our group elects to conduct research, rather than blindly accept this assumption, near Indian Point and other nuclear plants. To date, we have made several findings:

1. Routine radioactive releases from Indian Point are among the highest of U.S. plants
2. Westchester and Rockland child cancer incidence is significantly above the U.S. rate.
3. The average level of radioactive Strontium-90 in baby teeth local children is among the highest in the U.S., and rose sharply after the late 1980s.

Each finding suggests Indian Point has harmed local residents. Today I present new data on local thyroid cancer rates. For the first time, national county-specific incidence rates are now published (42 states) by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Thyroid cancer can be a red flag for harmful effects of radiation exposure. Specifically, radioactive iodine, only produced in nuclear weapons and reactors, enters the body through breathing and the food chain, and attacks cells in the thyroid gland. A 1997 study by the National Cancer Institute concluded that Iodine-131 from atomic bomb fallout caused as many as 212,000 Americans to develop thyroid cancer.

The great majority of residents in four New York counties live within 20 miles of Indian Point. According to official CDC data from 2001-2004, three of these counties (Rockland, Orange, and Putnam) have the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd highest thyroid cancer rates in the state. The other county, Westchester, ranks 8th of 62 New York counties.

Local thyroid cancer rates are actually among the highest in the U.S. The four counties rank 5th, 15th, 26th, and 122nd out of 806 counties published by the CDC.

The local thyroid cancer rate was slightly below the state average in the late 1970s, when Indian Point 2 and 3 had just started. Something caused the low local rate, now 67% above the U.S., to rise. Indian Point emissions must be considered as one possible factor.

The high thyroid cancer rate represents a public health problem that officials should address promptly. Moreover, the DSEIS is incomplete without addressing thyroid cancer and other components of a local health “report card”.

No decision on license extension should be made until all historical health risks of Indian Point are studied using statistical evidence, and the public is fully informed. The fact that the NRC does not require evidence-based proof of safety as a condition for license extension is poor policy, which may put many lives at risk.

Thank your for your time. I hope the NRC will take my comments seriously.

Joseph J. Mangano MPH MBA
Executive Director, Radiation and Public Health Project

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