On February 20, 2008, San Luis Obispo Mothers for Peace (MFP) attorney Diane Curran filed a brief with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) arguing for access to secret documents the NRC relied upon for its finding that a successful terrorist attack on the Diablo Canyon dry cask storage facility would have “no significant impact” on the environment.

Under federal law and consistent with longstanding NRC policy, MFP has a meaningful right to a hearing addressing the possible consequences of such a terrorist attack and protective measures that should be taken to avoid or mitigate those impacts. By denying MFP access to most of its supporting evidence, the NRC is not allowing MFP or the affected public to understand the reasons for the Staff’s extremely surprising conclusion that the environmental impacts of a terrorist attack would be insignificant.

MFP spokesperson Jane Swanson expressed the group’s concern that the NRC is using a secret and irrational analytical process to rule out attack scenarios with significant impacts. "The NRC keeps secret documents with secret criteria for judging the credibility of intentional attacks and the severity of their consequences. It is time for the NRC to stop playing games and to reveal to our attorney and expert, who have the appropriate security clearances, how it arrived at this irrational finding."

Some of the withheld documents are labeled “state secrets” by the NRC. However, the NRC has a history of circulating security-related documents to nuclear industry trade representatives as well as state and local government representatives. MFP argues that, before declaring that the documents are privileged “state secrets,” the NRC Staff should be required to fully disclose the identities of the persons and organizations with which those documents have been shared. And if the NRC Staff’s disclosures show that the documents have been shared with PG&E or trade industry representatives, the Commission should also ensure that MFP has access to the same documents for purposes of participating in the Diablo Canyon dry cask storage licensing proceeding.

BACKGROUND

The San Luis Obispo Mothers for Peace in 2006 won a favorable ruling from the Ninth Circuit of the United States Court of Appeals, determining that under the National Environmental Policy Act, the NRC was required to take into account the environmental effects of an intentional attack on the dry cask storage facility at Diablo Canyon. The NRC response to that ruling was to declare, in an eight page Environmental Assessment, that there would be no significant impact from such an attack. MFP is challenging that conclusion and demanding a hearing and access to documents in order the force the NRC to meaningfully comply with the Ninth Circuit’s ruling.

Read more on the MFP filing