Security & Terrorism
Mothers for Peace is on the home stretch of the protracted litigation in our second challenge of the Nuclear Regulatory commission before the Ninth circuit Court. Like the 2006 ruling in favor of Mothers for Peace, the outcome of our case has the potential to affect policy for all 104 nuclear facilities in the nation. If Mothers for Peace is successful, the case will set a major new precedent for government accountability with respect to security-related decision-making in the post-9/11 era. The oral argument took place on November 4, 2010. A decision is expected by the Spring of 2011.
Over 75,000 metric tons of radioactive wastes have piled up at nuclear power plants across the United States. After more than 75 years of making this lethal waste, there are still no viable solutions to the problem of how to protect the environment from the dangers it will pose for a million years. If implemented, Consolidated (or Centralized) “Interim” Storage (CIS) facilities would be sites to which irradiated high-level nuclear waste would be moved and stored temporarily. Then, at some point, it would be shipped to a currently non-existent permanent repository. These facilities would provide temporary storage of commercial irradiated waste, mostly in dry storage casks, from all over the country. Currently there are two proposed facilities, one in Texas and the other in New Mexico.
San Luis Obispo Mothers for Peace (SLOMFP) is pleased that on June 21, 2016 Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) announced plans to withdraw its application for license renewal for the two reactors at Diablo Canyon nuclear plant. The current licenses expire in 2024 and 2025. PG&E’s proposal secures a date certain for the final shutdown of the last nuclear plant in the state of California. Since 2009, when PG&E submitted its license renewal application to the NRC, SLOMFP has opposed the operation of Diablo Canyon on safety and environmental grounds.
We encourage the NRC to include and explore the following topics in the scope of its Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) on Diablo Canyon: climate change, energy supply and grid stability, economic impact, earthquake risk and public health risk including increasing cancer and declining infant health.
Scoping Comments on NRC Environmental Impact Study required for PG&E license renewal application for Diablo Canyon nuclear plant.
These Comments on Environmental Issues for Diablo Canyon Nuclear Plant License Renewal are submitted San Luis Obispo Mothers for Peace. The Comments offer sufficient information to justify inclusion of the issues raised in the scoping of the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) to be developed by the NRC.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is developing an environmental impact statement (EIS) for the proposed license renewal of the Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant and is seeking public comment on issues to be covered by the report. Supporters of MFP are encouraged to consider speaking on any of the topics below - or other matters that concern you.
The following message was delivered by MFP SPokesperson Jane Swanson at an NRC meeting in San Luis Obispo on June 24, 2015.
Comments on the NRC’s disgraceful draft Waste Confidence Rule and Generic Environmental Impact Statement must be sent before the deadline of December 20, 2013. Here is some suggested wording, which we encourage supporters to copy and edit as they wish. Note that comments may be sent by email or as a mailed letter.
The vulnerability of dry casks to terrorist attacks has been extensively studied. As the NRC proposes to update its so-called "Waste Confidence Act" and the Draft Generic Environmental Impact Statement, it must recognize that, although dry casks are much less dangerous than spent fuel pools, the casks also need to be protected against potential terrorist attacks.
Robert Lewin is the county fire chief in San Luis Obispo, California. He examines the state of American preparedness following the disaster in Fukushima.
This Viewpoint was published in the San Luis Obispo Tribune on May 18, 2011. It points out that only since the disaster in Fukushima is the NRC beginning to ask nuclear plants to report on how they plan to prevent massive radiation releases in case of an extreme event.
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals denied the petition by Mothers for Peace to overturn a licensing decision by the NRC regarding the dry cask radioactive waste storage facility at Diablo Canyon.
Mothers for Peace argues that the NRC violated federal environmental law when it refused to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement addressing the potentially catastrophic impact of an attack on the Diablo Canyon spent fuel storage facility.
The Ninth Circuit Court rules in favor of Mothers for Peace regarding terrorism and the dry cask storage project at Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant. A link to the Court ruling is included.
San Luis Obispo Mothers for Peace pursues Ninth Circuit Court Appeal and opposition to Diablo Canyon License Renewal.
Mothers for Peace goes back to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to force the NRC to do its job.
Highlight of the year: our day in court!
Mothers for Peace celebrates 40 years of working for peace, social justice, and a safe global environment.
Mothers for Peace collaborates with multiple nuclear watchdog groups.
Mothers for Peace won a crucial case in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals!