About Us

Mission

San Luis Obispo Mothers for Peace is a non-profit organization concerned with the dangers posed by Diablo Canyon and other nuclear reactors, nuclear weapons, and radioactive waste. Additionally, the organization works to promote peace, environmental and social justice, and renewable energy.

Mothers for Peace uses a variety of strategies to achieve these goals:

Monitors proceedings before the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the California Public Utilities Commission, and other government agencies;
Educates the public via social media, speaking events, rallies, mailings, letter-writing campaigns, letters to editors and opinion pieces in newspapers;
Commemorates important historical events related to our goals;
Provides scholarships for local high school and college students whose goals and actions exemplify our mission.

Members

The group is a local, non-profit organization (501c3). Its members include mothers, grandmothers, and non-parents. Its membership is predominantly, but not exclusively, women.

Origins

The San Luis Obispo Mothers for Peace was organized in 1969. A young mother wrote a letter to the editor of the local newspaper asking that people who shared her sadness and frustration at the needless loss of life in the Vietnam War join her in speaking out.

SLO County women and men joined together in opposition to the Vietnam War by educating draftees about being conscientious objectors, protesting atmospheric testing of nuclear weapons, and organizing peaceful marches and protests.

The shared values and compelling need to act effectively as a group have continued to characterize the Mothers for Peace.

In 1973, Focus Turned to the Diablo Canyon Nuclear Plant and Legal Intervention

When the Vietnam War ended, Mothers for Peace turned to opposition of the nuclear plant that was being constructed in Avila Beach. The organization acquired intervenor status with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to oppose licensing.

For nearly five decades, Mothers for Peace has taken on the role of watchdog, challenging the NRC and Pacific Gas & Electric Company (PG&E) on safety issues and controversies concerning the construction, licensing, operation, and storage and disposition of the radioactive waste.

MFP utilizes all legal means to ensure, to the extent possible, the safe operation of the plant and its compliance with State and Federal Laws.

Mothers for Peace has been involved in litigation and public hearings involving initial and subsequent licenses, seismic safety, County Emergency Response Plan, high level radioactive waste storage and transport risks, rate structure and deregulation, degradation of coastal waters, plant security, and now decommissioning plans.