Related:
Paul Frey calls our attention to this –
Super Shear Earthquakes – Deadlier Than Deadly
And from Myla Reson:
Cooling Tower Resolution passed CA Environmental Caucus [pdf]
For Immediate Release: May 21, 2015
Federal ruling calls future of Diablo Canyon reactors into question
Friends of the Earth: Decision is beginning of the end for troubled nuclear plant
Contacts:
Damon Moglen, Friends of the Earth: (202) 352-4223, dmoglen@foe.org
David Freeman, (310) 902-2147, greencowboysdf@gmail.com
Bill Walker, (510) 759-9911, bw.deadline@gmail.com
WASHINGTON – In a major victory that could mark the beginning of the end for the Diablo Canyon nuclear reactors, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commissioners have ruled that an Atomic Safety Licensing Board will decide whether Pacific Gas & Electric Co. was allowed to illegally alter the plant’s license in an attempt to hide the risk from powerful earthquake faults discovered since it was designed and built. The Commission’s referral of the issue to the licensing board parallels a move that presaged the shutdown of Southern California Edison’s San Onofre nuclear plant two years ago.
“This is a major victory that could be the turning point for a nuclear-free future for California,” said Damon Moglen of Friends of the Earth, which had petitioned the NRC saying that the secret amendment of the license was an illegal maneuver designed to avoid holding a public hearing on the issue as required by federal law. “PG&E now knows that it is on the same path that forced Southern California Edison to pull the plug on San Onofre.”
In a 3 -1 ruling released today, commissioners ruled that Friends of the Earth’s petition will now be considered by an expert panel of the licensing board. Friends of the Earth had alleged that PG&E is operating the 1960-era nuclear reactors at Diablo Canyon in violation of their license and called for the reactors to be closed immediately pending public hearings to prove it is safe.
The Commission did not rule on closing the reactors pending public hearings, but ruled that the safety issues should now be considered by the Commission’s executive director for operations.
Today’s decision is all but identical to that the Commission in November 2012 in response to a similar petition from Friends of the Earth regarding to the damaged nuclear reactors at San Onofre. In that case, the licensing board ruled in in May 2013 that public hearings should be held as part of a formal license amendment proceeding to assess the safety of San Onofre..
When Edison announced the closure of San Onofre a few weeks later, they referred to the ASLB decision.
“This decision is indeed the beginning of the end for Diablo Canyon,” said Dave Freeman, former head of the federal Tennessee Valley Authority, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power and the Sacramento Municipal Utility District. “PG&E is not going to get away with running Diablo Canyon when the plant can not withstand the ground motion from the earthquake faults we now know surround these reactors,” said Freeman, a special advisor to Friends of the Earth.
The ruling comes days after the NRC sent PG&E a letter requiring the utility to conduct further studies to show whether Diablo Canyon – California’s last nuclear plant, on the Pacific coast near San Luis Obispo – is operating within the bounds of its license. Diablo Canyon was one of only two U.S. reactors required to conduct further seismic risk evaluation because its license does not account for newly discovered hazards.
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Related:
Paul Frey calls our attention to this –
Super Shear Earthquakes – Deadlier Than Deadly