Mothers for Peace members attend virtual meetings of the Diablo Canyon Independent Safety Committee to learn about recent incidents at the nuclear plant. At the most recent meeting, PG&E presented information on efforts to diagnose and resolve problems such as leaks in pipes, pump failures, and excessive vibrations in a component of a steam generator. The Committee will continue to function after closure of both reactors in 2025 until the high level radioactive waste has been removed from the fuel pools and transferred to dry casks.
MFP spokesperson Linda Seeley will continue to serve on the Panel through 2022. One pressing issue is the management of high level radioactive waste. PG&E is now choosing the new dry cask storage system to store the 138 containers on site after plant closure. The added challenges of these new casks is to manage the prevalent high burnup fuel (hotter temperature and radioactivity) and to do so with expediency. PG&E intends to reduce the amount of time the fuel is required to cool in the pools from 10+ years to seven or fewer years. All cask information is “proprietary” and thus unavailable to MFP at this time. This choice of cask will be the topic for the March 2022 Panel meeting. To read the Panel’s recommendations for dry cask storage, see page 83 of the Strategic Vision Report, a document created using input from community members and cask experts. Link