Williamlatham: While I respect the depth of your knowledge & experience, given your service , I have an initial two word response, "Oyster Creek".

This response is reinforced by the fact that Indian Point sits atop a bluff over the Hudson River and uses the river water to cool the reactor. There is an active earthquake fault near/below the facility, discovered after construction. In a breach or rupture scenario, there is a substantial chance of debris or contamination entering the Hudson, upstream of NYC.

My worst fear is less a breach of the reactor vessel and more a fear of a rupture ( via a natural or man made event ) in the open, water-filled pools holding the spent fuel rods. A resulting loss of coolant and the fallout producing incendiary calamity that would produce. You know that those long term storage "pools" we're not in the original design plan or threat evaluation. If memory serves, analogous storage pools at the Fukishma facility did loose coolant. Fire was avoided by pumping seawater to overflow and the contaminated drainage ended up into the ocean.

Finally, there is the fact that the facility is about 50 years old and it's now highly irradiated brittle metal has reached its designed service limit. All of these facts, taken together, make a resulting disaster, Providence forbid, look less like a Black Swan Event and more like a predictable event.

I'd be pleased, really and truly , no kidding pleased, if you can tell me why my fears are exaggerated ?