Assembly Member Al Muratsuchi – Statement on Diablo Extension

Al Muratsuchi D. Torrance

Assembly Hearing – 8-25-2022

https://www.assembly.ca.gov/media/assembly-utilities-energy-committee-20220826/video

At minute: 02:20:02;03

Re: SB 846 

Diablo Canyon powerplant: extension of operations

 leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB846

Download Muratsucchi PDF

Al Muratsuchi (00:00):

I have to leave for some important climate package related discussions. But I just wanted to to state before I left Mr. Chair, that, that you know, along with Mr, Mr. Wood and, and, and some of my colleagues in the assembly, umwe had an opportunity to visit Fukushima right before the pandemic. And we visited the community surrounding the Daichi nuclear power plant, and it is a wasteland. It communities that once thrived around the, the nuclear power plant were abandoned, you can see the cars and the homes parked were, the weeds are, you know, overtaking the community that was once thriving. And I, you know, I, I, I’m not trying to fear monger here, but I want to make sure that we are as several witnesses here, here today stated to put safety first and foremost, you know, it’s my understanding that there, there have been reviews of what happened in and, and Fukushima.

Al Muratsuchi (01:25):

And there were basically two fundamental problems that happened that led to the Fukushima nuclear disaster. One is that the nuclear plant was allowed to be designed licensed and constructed to only withstand an earthquake and tsunami far smaller than what actually occurred.

And so, you know, I, I know that we’ve heard many assurances today about how the NRC is charged with ensuring the safety and the protection of the local residents of San Luis Obispo county. But again, you know, we can never plan enough for what nature mother nature can unleash.

Second, the Fukushima disaster was in large part caused by the ineffective oversight of, and the cozy too cozy relationship between the nuclear utility and the regulator that allowed what, obviously in hindsight ended up to be inadequate safety requirements.

And so it raises all the more, my deep concern about how we are not only rushing this through, but that we are as PO the, the proposal was calling for a sequel exemption for the bypassing of state agency oversight. It sounds like a recipe for disaster. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.