Nuclear showdown
Activist group tries again to close Diablo Canyon plant

By Savannah Blackwell

In its latest effort to shutter the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant in San Luis Obispo, a California environmental activist group has accused Pacific Gas and Electric Corp. of not ensuring that an anticipated major expansion of the plant will be safe from terrorist attack.

Mothers for Peace, which has fought a decades-old battle to close the roughly 20-year-old plant, has cited a Sept. 8 Associated Press story that revealed al-Qaeda operatives had blueprints of U.S. nuclear power plants in their possession. PG&E has done nothing to make sure that a storage facility it wants to build for uranium-based waste will be secured sufficiently, the group says.

"We know [that power] plants are targets," said Rochelle Becker, a Mothers for Peace member. "The spent-fuel pools are specific targets, as are dry-cask storage areas. This is a huge, huge problem."

In 2001, PG&E applied to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission to construct an on-site, three-acre, high-level radioactive-waste facility for storing used fuel rods in dry casks. For the past 20 years the company has "temporarily" stored this waste on its property, which sits two miles from an active fault line (see "Nuke the Nukes," 1/23/02).

Humboldt County activists are fighting PG&E over its proposal to build a similar radioactive waste storage facility at its plant near Humboldt Bay. That site would hold five casks. Diablo would hold 138.

On Sept. 10 and 11, San Luis Obispo County officials and the state Energy Commission supported Mothers' contentions that full hearings should be granted on the issues of how PG&E's bankruptcy will affect nuclear plant operations and whether a new radioactive storage facility would be safe in an earthquake or in a terrorist attack.

PG&E is trying to get its remaining power plants out from under the control of state regulators as part of its bankruptcy filings. In June, PG&E representatives revealed that the company plans to extend the life of the Diablo plant for at least another 25 years. PG&E's operating license is due to expire in 2021 for one part of the plant and in 2025 for another.

Mothers had tried unsuccessfully to stop PG&E's application for the new storage facility in May. PG&E had to apply to store the waste on-site, because no regional storage facility has been created yet – even though lawmakers in Washington, D.C., passed legislation in 1982 stating that the federal government should establish a centralized site for permanent storage of high-level radioactive waste. The one proposed for Yucca Mountain in Nevada has been approved by federal legislators but is the subject of lawsuits filed by at least seven environmental and public interest groups.

For its part, PG&E says that Mothers' fears are unfounded and that the new storage facility will meet the standards of the NRC.

"We will exceed all the requirements," PG&E spokesperson Jeff Lewis said.

Though Mothers for Peace has the support of local and some state officials, the group must bear the full cost of fighting PG&E before the licensing board and the NRC. Costs – such as the expense of hiring experts – are adding up. To help the organization, go to www.mothersforpeace.org or call (805) 273-4676. E-mail Savannah Blackwell at savannah@sfbg.com.