textfiles/ufo/UFOBBS/2000/2472.ufo

SUBJECT: INCIDENT AT INDIAN POINT                            FILE: UFO2472




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Date prepared: 4/20/91
Contributed by: Don Ecker/ UFO Magazine

=================================================================

Incident at Indian Point
                             by Vicki Cooper

  The threat of UFOs compromising reactor security, as
if the nuclear industry didn't have enough to deal with
already, became a very real concern in 1984. Although of-
ficials won't admit it, several researchers have information that 
New York 's Indian Point Reactor complex endured such
a UFO problem during the long siege of sightings that
happened throughout the state's Hudson  Valley area.
The portrayal of the event in this article is based primarily on the
disclosures of unnamed sources.

   The summer of 1984 was a troublesome season for
authorities at the Indian Point nuclear reactor complex in
Buchanan, New York. Two UFO appearances, one of which was verified by Carl
Patrick, director of nuclear information for the New York Power Authority
(NYPA), and later documented by the press and the 1987 book Night Siege,
apparently put the normally tight security of the plant to a severe test. The
first event entailed the brief flyover of a huge craft, witnessed by three
security policemen on June 14. That was followed ten days later by a UFO
incident of unprecedented impact. It was one of hundreds of UFO sightings in
the Hudson Valley, but one the nuclear workers won't soon forget.

     "Here comes that UFO again!  " an Indian Point security guard is said to
have yelled on the night of July 24, 1984, alerting other security personnel by
way of the plant's internal
communications system. A UFO, variously described as looking like 
 "an ice cream cone " and  "boomerang,  " had lazily drifted over to Reactor
#3-the only active reactor at the time-lingering about 300 feet above the domed
construction for some ten minutes, sending security officials into an uproar.
Now, six years later, the principal UFO researcher on the case admits that many
aspects of the event remain confusing and undisclosed. And although he's still
receiving information, Philip Imbrogno calls his own lengthy investigation
"stagnant."

    "Every time new information comes up or I get a lead on something, I get
very reluctant to deal with it again," said Imbrogno, who heads the science
department at the Windward School in White Plains, New York. "The entire case
has caused me quite a bit of pressure . . . The event would indicate that
whatever appeared over there, our state-of-the-art technology in defense was
unable to deal with it.  " He suggests that from what his sources have said, a
military aspect came into play. The Indian Point UFO represented an intolerable
security breach.

Military customers?

   Imbrogno says that it is precisely that aspect which has had a lasting
effect, and which has generated repercussions that continue to this day. But
according to the New York Power Authority, which oversees the reactor complex,
Indian Point itself has no direct military customers. Reactor #3 primarily
services local and state facilities in New York City and Westchester County,
including local school districts, the New York City subway systems and some of
New York's trains. Most importantly, in Imbrogno's mind, are several military
installations in and around Duchess County, which
allegedly get their power from Indian Point. According to his sources, these
are primarily satellite receiving stations, and "a number of other military
operations of which we can only guess, " Imbrogno says. The official agency
overseeing the reactor complex is the New York Power Authority, although
Consolidated Edison has jurisdiction over Reactor #2 and is sold use of #3 for
extensive transmissions to New York residential users and, perhaps, military
facilities such as Camp Smith, an Air National Guard base located north of
Peekskill. (Reactor #l is inactive.)

  It was NYPA whose officials apparently spent considerable human energy trying
to dissuade Imbrogno from writing about the July 24 event, concerned he would
release information vital to the plant's security. "I think other agencies were
using (the NYPA) to harass me,  " he said, noting that he was constantly
subjected to their repetitive phone calls, threatening that he would be forced
to appear at a hearing on the incident. (He was never subpoenaed, but Imbrogno
subsequently, and perhaps coincidentally, was audited by the IRS four times.)

  The compulsion to publish was undeniable; of what may have been as many as 70
UFO witnesses among Indian Point personnel, a number quietly sought out
Imbrogno, and on the condition of anonymity provided him with the vital facts
which led to the production of Night Siege (co-written with Bob Pratt and J.
Allen Hynek.)  "My sources involve people who work in security for the plant
and also people in secretarial and janitorial positions," he said.

  "The only problem is that getting anything on paper-
documentation, something official-is very, very hard, I have unofficial
confirmation right now that a number of documents pertaining to the sighting do
exist at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.  " Normally, NRC records can be
opened to the public under terms of the Freedom of Information Act, but when he
in-quired, Imbrogno was informed that the documents were being held at the
reactor complex, and as such were protected under national security
regulations, "It's a joint sort of thing, " he said,  "In other words, although
the NRC is pretty open to the public, if they want to keep a document
classified, they'll store it with another agency, I have an inside secretarial
source who's actually seen the documents filed," The NYPA's Patrick denies that
any such
documentation exists, and dismisses the incident by claiming that all Hudson
Valley UFO sightings were later identified as light aircraft, There was no
videotape taken by on-site surveillance cameras, Patrick insists, or audio
recording of oral
communications, both pieces of evidence which Imbrogno strongly feels do exist
and are being retained somewhere. According to Imbrogno's sources, a security
shake-up ensued the very next day. "A number of agencies came in, including the
NRC and military personnel, and they supposedly cleaned out everything. You
have to remember that with nuclear reactors, you're only going to get 10
percent of the real story. They're overly terrified of bad
publicity, and are really afraid of the anti-nuclear groups, which can cause
trouble. Anything that happens is immediately covered up,including UFO
sightings.  "

An 'irregularity'

  Imbrogno further alleges that shortly after the UFO infringement,a crack in
the reactor's casing was discovered. The public didn't hear about such a
situation until a year later; the NYPA's Patrick denied any  "crack, " although
he did recall a time when Reactor #2 may have developed an "irregularity. "
Imbrogno says, "[Indian Point officials] made a public statement that
operations were not affected, that everything was normal. But I've been told by
several people that they lost power, the security system dropped, and the
reactor controls went crazy. Apparently it was caused by the UFO." No way, says
the NYPA.  "Any implication that the sightings of these [light aircraft] in any
way affected Reactor #3 is false", Patrick said. Imbrogno's sources indicate
otherwise. Supposedly, a mass of sophisticated, high-accuracy tracking
equipment was installed at the complex, enabling security to quickly generate a
computer image of whatever aircraft might be affecting the
equipment. Apparently such problems are still going on. Patrick would not
comment on what kinds of security equipment protect Indian Point, but stressed
that nothing new has been installed since the incident.

  Imbrogno is also suspicious that the armed security forces at the site may
have had reason to attempt firing on the craft, again an allegation flatly
refuted by the NYPA. "I know a number of
helicopters with rocket launchers were sent up and followed the craft for some
distance," Imbrogno commented, citing his anonymous sources for the info. "When
these helicopters went on their way,the object moved off and started crossing
the Hudson, and
disappeared up north."

  Officials will not talk to Imbrogno, nor answer his letters, he says. UFO
spoke with Cliff Spieler, vice president at the New York Power Authority. He,
like Patrick, basically dismisses the entire affair. "Having looked into this
thing and living two miles from Indian Point, think the UFO reports are
nonsense, " he said. "[All Hudson Valley UFO sightings] are linked to small
planes flying out of Duchess County."

    At one time, officials speaking for Indian Point made their position quite
clear to Imbrogno, "They said, 'you can cooperate with us, or you don't have to
cooperate with us. If you don't cooperate with us, you have to face the
consequences, because you are dealing in an area of national security. The
incident that took place over there involved national security because it was a
breach of security at a nuclear reactor.' But they weren't ready to say who was
breaching security!" In considering the "who," Imbrogno took in a number of
hypotheses, including the possibility that the incident was an elaborate test
flight of a secret military craft,such as the B-2 Stealth bomber, or a
covertly-planned contingency test of the plant's security operations, carried
out under the guise of a UFO overflight.

  Nothing is impossible, he'll admit. But the most tenable answer,he feels, is
that the UFO was an extraterrestrial craft.  "I don't think our government
could be so bold with a craft of the kind that appeared at Indian Point," he
said.  "Talking to these security people, and looking into their eyes," his
voice trailed, "  .  . . they tell a story of this one cop who got up on the
roof below the UFO, and the thing started moving a little bit. He pulled out
his gun, looked at it, then put the gun back in his holster and ducked!  .  . 
. The people who were telling these stories are not familiar with the UFO
literature. If I really wanted to go into this, with no fear of what would
happen to me, I'm sure there's an incredible story here. I am still being given
information about certain things going on there-In the nighttime,people seeing
little creatures coming through the walls of the casing on the reactor, and
military personnel indicating 'we're aware of these creatures and we don't care
if they're from outer space-shoot 'em!'  .  .  . On a newscast on Channel 7 in
New York,they were interviewing one guy, and he said, 'I saw it going over the
reactor! I think they're sucking the power from it! That's what they're doing!'
But a civilization that has this type of vehicle-any intelligence, whatever it
is-I'm sure doesn't need nuclear energy." 

  Ed. Note: In a letter to UFO shortly after this article was written, Imbrogno
added to his remarks.  "It is hard to believe that people like John Lear and
Bill Cooper are revealing 'top secret' information with little or no
repercussions. I just poked my nose a little too deep into an area of national
security and got my ears pinned back for it. My next step is to approach this
in a legal way by asking for an investigation (preferably by a member of
Congress) to find out how and why the security at this
government reactor was violated and why information is being withheld." 

End of file.

        

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