An anti-nuclear group concerned about more terrorist attacks has urged Gov. John G. Rowland to send the National Guard to protect nuclear reactors in Waterford and Haddam.

The Connecticut Coalition Against Millstone has also called on the U.S. Coast Guard to continually patrol the Millstone nuclear power plants in Waterford along Long Island Sound.

The coalition wants National Guard troops stationed at Millstone and the Connecticut Yankee reactor in Haddam. One of the three Millstone reactors and the Connecticut Yankee reactor are no longer in service.

Dean Pagani, a spokesman for Rowland, said the governor does not believe National Guard troops are needed now at Millstone and Connecticut Yankee. He said heightened security is being adequately provided by police officers and private security firms.

According to the coalition, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission concluded in a report last year that one out of two aircraft is large enough to penetrate a 5-foot-thick, reinforced concrete wall such as the side wall of a spent-fuel pool.

The NRC also concluded that an accident at a spent-fuel pool in a plant that has not operated in 10 years can still release enough radiation to kill 639 out of every 10,000 people who live within 10 miles of the plant.

–Associated Press