On May 29 the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) staff issued a supplement to the Environmental Assessment (EA) for the Diablo Canyon Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation (ISFSI), also known as the dry cask storage facility.

“Mothers for Peace is disappointed at the lackluster quality of this supplemental EA,” stated Jane Swanson, spokesperson for MFP. “The NRC staff’s review is so poorly documented that it is hard to tell what they reviewed. But what little information is given shows that they didn’t look at a very broad range of threats to the Diablo Canyon spent fuel storage facility or measures for avoiding or mitigating the impacts of attacks.” Ms. Swanson said that MFP will be conducting a thorough review of the EA and plans to request a hearing on its inadequacies. Hearing requests are due at the end of June.

This study was required by the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in its ruling of June 2, 2006. The court agreed with Mothers for Peace (MFP) that the NRC was irrational in refusing to consider the possibility of a terrorist attack on the dry cask storage project, which Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) is building in order to increase storage space for its radioactive spent fuel.

MFP attorney Diane Curran pointed out in arguments before the court that the spent fuel storage casks are located on an exposed hillside overlooking the Pacific Ocean where they are vulnerable to airborne attack. “The effects of a terrorist attack on the steel casks could be devastating,” she warned. “Our expert study found that if only two casks were breached, an area more than half the size of the State of Connecticut could be rendered uninhabitable.”

The draft supplement to the EA will be available on the NRC’s web site at http://www.nrc.gov/wase.html. Select “Diablo Canyon” in the Quick Links box.