- WASHINGTON - Sen. Hillary
Rodham Clinton urged the Pentagon yesterday to consider flying regular
combat patrols over New York's nuclear power plants because of reports
that al-Qaida may be planning new attacks using hijacked cargo planes from
Canada, Mexico or the Caribbean.
-
- The Indian Point plants in Buchanan and reactors along
the Lake Ontario shoreline near Rochester and Oswego would be vulnerable
under such a scenario, the New York Democrat said in a letter to Secretary
of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge.
-
- U.S. intelligence authorities warned the government and
the airline industry last week that terrorists may be looking at air cargo
planes as possible weapons. Some lawmakers immediately called for stepped
up security and inspections of cargo planes, which aren't being scrutinized
at all now, aviation officials said.
-
- Because of its proximity to New York City, an attack
at Indian Point could affect more than 9 million people in the city and
the northern suburbs. Its potential as a terrorist target has prompted
opponents to call for the plants' shutdown, though Indian Point officials
say the plants could be protected and question the ability of hijacked
planes to cause a nuclear threat.
-
- The Ginna plant in Monroe County and the Nine-Mile Point
reactors just east of Oswego could be considered "extremely vulnerable"
because they are close to the Canadian border, Clinton said.
-
- More than 1 million people live in the six-county Rochester
metropolitan area.
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- Copyright 2003 The Journal News, a Gannett Co Original
publication November 13, 2003 http://www.thejournalnews.com/newsroom/111303/a10w13nynuke.html
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