To: "Fox News Comments" <comments@foxnews.com>
From: "Russell D. Hoffman" <rhoffman@animatedsoftware.com>
Subject: FOX NEWS: Unfair and Unbalanced
Cc: oreilly@foxnews.com
February 7th, 2002

To Whom It May Concern at Fox News:

According to your guest in today's report on nuclear power plant safety, after six years of calculations he has decided that the chance of a terrorist act against Pilgrim nuclear power plant causing a release of radiation which would kill even a single member of the public is one in one billion.

Let's see this mathematical proof!

If biologist Charles Levy can forward his calculations to me so that my team can review them, I will also immediately take them to my state representatives for them to review if they want (since we have four operational nukes here in California), and I'll also send copies of them to the local activists I know around Pilgrim, who probably can find an error or two as well.

Also, did YOUR team at FOX NEWS review those calculations?  Need I ask?

I take NO comfort from hearing (on your report) that the walls of the containment dome are steel-reinforced and up to seven feet thick.  Why not?  Because I know they are not nearly that thick on the top, where a plane diving into the plant at high speed would impact the dome.  And because I know that there are about 3,000 spent fuel assemblies as Pilgrim, which aren't inside that dome anyway!  And because I know that Pilgrim is a GE Mark 1 reactor, which is probably the most dangerous type of commercial reactor ever built -- certainly the most dangerous type in America.

A more reasonable approach to the issue can be found here -- and if you find it terrifying, that's reasonable:
http://www.animatedsoftware.com/environm/onofre/index.htm

Here is a look at all the nukes in America individually, including the nuke (Pilgrim) featured in today's report, which has hardly had a healthy history:
http://www.animatedsoftware.com/environm/no_nukes/nukelist.htm

One in one billion?  No way.

Sincerely,

Russell D. Hoffman
Concerned Citizen
Carlsbad, CA