LAWSUIT FILED TO PREVENT RESTART OF MILLSTONE #2 REACTOR

Environmentalists and State Lawmaker: Pollution and fish kill remediation efforts required before reactor can be restarted

Today, New York Assemblymen Fred Thiele, Fish Unlimited, the North Fork Environmental Council and Standing for Truth About Radiation (STAR), filed a lawsuit in Connecticut Superior Court to enjoin the restart of the Millstone Unit #2 nuclear reactor. Unit #2 has been shut down since March 30, 1996. When operating at full power, Unit #2 draws 600,000 gallons of water per minute from Long Island Sound. The lawsuit is filed under a Connecticut law that allows the public to seek relief for the "protection of the public trust in the air, water and other natural resources....from unreasonable pollution, impairment or destruction."

"The owners of Millstone installed fish returns on Unit #1 and #3, but never on Unit #2 and this omission is extremely significant because the plant already kills large numbers of fish and fish larvae and has probably caused significant damage to the fish populations in Long Island Sound," stated Scott Cullen, Counsel to STAR. "If commercial fisherman were killing the same amounts of fish as Millstone, the fisherman would be fined and out of business," he added. "Further damage to fish stocks can and must be avoided," said Cullen.

"Ongoing releases of radionuclides and toxic chemicals are alarming and the recent discovery of Cobalt-60 in the sediment of a cove near Millstone has raised further questions about the true impact of this facility," added Cullen. "According to a study by Millstone's owner, these dangerous releases to Long Island Sound can be avoided by the installation of a closed cooling system: the plaintiffs are seeking the installation of such a system to remedy the unreasonable pollution and destruction of fragile resources that the Connecticut law is intended to protect," he continued. "A closed cooling system would greatly protect the Long Island Sound waters and would diminish the extent of the damage from this facility. This is a modest and reasonable requirement that should have been implemented long ago," he added.