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Nuclear Energy Insight

June 2007—Paul Newman—actor, philanthropist and auto racing enthusiast—is a man of many interests. One of those is nuclear energy.

Newman toured the Indian Point nuclear plant in Buchanan, N.Y., last month and voiced his favorable impressions of the safety and security measures on the site.

“I expected to be shown safety and security at the plant,” Newman said after the visit. “But what I saw exceeded my expectations. No Army or Navy base I’ve ever visited has been more armored, and I couldn’t walk 30 feet inside the plant without swiping my key card to go through another security checkpoint.

“There was security at every turn, and the commitment to safety is clear,” Newman continued. “One worker told me his family lives very close to the plant, downwind even, and he is very comfortable because of the plant’s commitment to safety.”

Newman said he was “amazed that a generator that is the size of two or three rooms of my home can provide electricity for 1 million people without producing any greenhouse gas emissions.”

He also addressed used nuclear fuel storage at Indian Point. “I know a lot of people are concerned about nuclear waste. All of the spent fuel rods at Indian Point from more than 30 years of generating electricity are stored in a pool that, in my younger days, I could jump across.

“Indian Point is an important source of electricity for millions of New Yorkers today,” Newman noted. “Because it doesn’t produce any emissions that cause global warming, Indian Point will be even more important in the future.”

—Read more articles in Nuclear Energy Insight and Insight Web Extra.