Keep scrutiny on nuclear plant

There was no legal muscle for the Beacon City Council to lean on when it took a symbolic stand at a meeting this week. But its vote helps notch up the volume on an issue everyone in the Hudson Valley should be concerned about.

Council members passed a resolution calling for tighter security measures at the Indian Point nuclear power plant, down river from the Dutchess County city.

Beacon joins other communities calling for such measures. The Beacon vote wasn't unanimous. It was close -- 4-3 -- with Mayor Clara Lou Gould and two other members saying worries about Indian Point are unfounded. Specifically, Gould questioned whether the board had enough information to take such a vote.

But resolution supporters on the board, and in the audience, said they were concerned about the threat of terrorist attacks, as well as the operation of the plant.

And those concerns are certainly well-founded. After Sept. 11, no fears of terrorist attacks on places like a nuclear power plant should be ignored or considered exaggerated. Especially not when the plant had been given the lowest possible NRC safety rating of any of the 103 facilities in the country. Or when it has more people within 50 miles than any of the others.

Keep plant operating

Under those circumstances, people's concerns are well within reason. It's appropriate for local governments within the danger zones to officially ask that security at the plant is at its peak, which is what the resolution calls for.

Beacon resident Lucille Weinstat said, ''I think I do not have to be an engineer to be afraid of Indian Point.''

The Beacon resolution asks the NRC to review the plant's vulnerabilities, security measures and evacuation plans, things also requested by the Town of Fishkill recently. And environmentalists have called for more extensive evacuation zones. Some have called for the plant's closure, but that would be an overreaction to the situation at this point.

An NRC spokeswoman, Diane Screnci, said measures have been taken in recent months, including the addition of more security posts and patrols. She also said the NRC believes the security level at the plant is appropriate.

That may be the case. But people who live in the region have every right to continue to bring pressure on authorities to ensure the plant is safe.

And they should do it the way the Beacon City Council did it -- with a meeting that lets residents voice their concerns and with a public resolution that makes those wishes clear.