by John Dyer for VICE News
Experts are claiming that a massive natural gas pipeline being constructed next to a major nuclear power plant in New York could cause a meltdown just 40 miles north of Manhattan.
The company Spectra Energy has started construction on a 42-inch-diameter pipeline that will pass only 105 feet from the 1970s-era Indian Point nuclear facility on the Hudson River in Buchanan, New York. The $1 billion pipeline would carry natural gas obtained via fracking from Appalachia to New England.
If this pipe ever exploded, it could damage two diesel fuel tanks and a switching station that provide power for the nuclear plant, said Paul Blanch, a retired engineer with decades of experience in nuclear safety who opposes the pipeline. Without power, engineers might not be able to shut down the Indian Point reactors to avert a major disaster.
Stop the Algonquin Pipeline Expansion (SAPE) 