Anita Stewart • Operation Itch Contributor
After attending and speaking at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and Progress Energy’s open meetings last week in Crystal River, Florida concerning the Levy County’s proposed Nuclear Power Plant it is pretty easy to see that this meeting was stacked. Most of the speakers and the people attending were either from Progress Energy or the NRC therefore almost all of them had a vested financial interest in having the plant built in their neighborhood. It was clear to see that this is pretty much a done deal. The Levy County Nuclear Power Plant will cost Floridians approximately $17 billion dollars (including $3 billion for transmission lines). The planned site is in 3,100 acres of pristine Florida wilderness. Once the plans commence, the ecosystem there will be changed forever.
One woman named Irena came up to this writer to tell her that she works at the Crystal River Nuclear Plant and that she was originally from Chernobyl and that she had tested positive for cancer recently. She also said her cancer did not come from living at her previous location in Russia nor from working at the plant here in Florida. Another man was one of the speakers and mentioned that he had lived near nuclear power plants all of his life and it had not affected him at all, yet he could not uncurl his hands.
