Radioactive Waste

Holtec cask

High level radioactive waste is stored at Diablo Canyon in pools and in dry casks.  Mothers for Peace is currently in litigation regarding the dry cask storage facility and the potential impact of terrorism on the surrounding environment. (Also see 'security and terrorism.')

Seismic Uncertainty

Region IV of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission held the 2014 annual assessment meeting for Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant on June 24, 2015.

Issues for NRC meeting in SLO on June 24

This NRC meeting is at Embassy Suites, San Luis Obispo, CA 6 pm - 9 pm. The NRC will be reviewing the operations record for Diablo Canyon during the year 2014.

2015 - 06 - 10 Failure of PG&E to Properly load radioactive wastes

Event Reports from the NRC indicate that as of June 6 and 7 two spent fuel casks had been loaded improperly at the Diablo Canyon nuclear plant in Avila Beach, CA. Upon further inspection, San Luis Obispo Mothers for Peace discovered that 19 of the 34 dry casks that have been loaded at the Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation (ISFSI) have been loaded IMPROPERLY.

2015 - 04 - 16 New Seismic Contentions Filed

MOTHERS FOR PEACE CONTENDS DIABLO CANYON IS NOT PROTECTED AGAINST REASONABLY FORESEEABLE SEVERE EARTHQUAKES AND FLOODS. Group urges U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to refuse 20-year license term extension for lack of risk analysis and environmental protection measures.

2014-10-29 Mothers for Peace joins other environmental groups and NRDC in lawsuits challening NRC failure to comply with 2012 court ruling on nuclear waste storage

Nine environmental groups and the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) filed separate lawsuits today in the D.C. Court of Appeals challenging the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) decision to proceed with an “extended waste storage rule” and a generic environmental impact statement that fail to comply with a 2012 federal court ruling that had previously reversed the NRC.

2014 - 10 - 29 Mothers for Peace and NRDC Challenge NRC Failure to Comply with Court Ruling on Nuclear Waste Storage

Nine environmental groups, including San Luis Obispo Mothers for Peace, and the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) filed separate lawsuits today in the D.C. Court of Appeals challenging the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) decision to proceed with an “extended waste storage rule” and a generic environmental impact statement that fail to comply with a 2012 federal court ruling that had previously reversed the NRC.

2014 - 09 - 29 MOTHERS FOR PEACE URGES NRC TO HALT RELICENSING OF DIABLO CANYON DUE TO FAILURE TO ADDRESS 2012 COURT RULING

Mothers for Peace joined with 16 other groups nationwide to stop licensing and relicensing of nuclear facilities because of NRC failure to address critical waste issues. MFP attorney Diane Curran states: “NRC has long acknowledged that before licensing a reactor, the Atomic Energy Act requires it to make Waste Confidence findings that spent fuel can be safely disposed of in a geologic repository at some point in the future. The NRC even said it would not license a reactor if it could not make such a finding. Yet, the NRC has now arbitrarily dropped those findings from its regulations, claiming they are not necessary. The absence of Waste Confidence findings is a significant safety issue that should concern the public because spent fuel poses a serious public health and environmental hazard from which the public and environment can only be protected long-term with a geologic repository. Yet there is no repository in sight today.”