PETITION
Urgent Alert
Governor Newsom’s proposal to extend the operation of the Diablo Canyon nuclear facility for 20 years is an outrage to Californians seeking reliable and safe energy for our state.
Diablo Canyon Nuclear Reactors ARE NOT Reliable
Diablo Canyon IS NOT a dependable power source. According to Nuclear Regulatory Commission data, it averages one or both reactors being shutdown 40% of every year! Extending the life of Diablo Canyon actually increases our risk for blackouts.
We need a plan that keeps the lights on, not one that improves the odds we’ll have more blackouts.
PLUS Governor Newsom’s plan grants $1.4 Billion as a ‘forgiveable loan’ from Californians to PG&E and exempts the convicted corporate felon from state safety regulations!
THIS WILL BE VOTED ON BEFORE AUGUST 31!
Diablo Canyon IS NOT safe for California
Diablo means “devil” in Spanish, and the name is fitting. This plant is surrounded by 13 earthquake faults; the Shoreline Fault comes within a third of a mile of the Unit 2 reactor.
It is an aging plant – designed in the 1960s with construction completed in the 1980s. Anticipating imminent closure, maintenance has been deferred, waivers granted, and key employees gone. It has become increasingly more dangerous.
Each Diablo reactor contains 1,000 times the long-lived radioactivity of the Hiroshima bomb. A release of even a portion of that radioactivity—by a meltdown caused by an earthquake, failure of the aging equipment, a power outage or terrorism—could devastate a large portion of California for generations.
Furthermore, letting Diablo run beyond its current licenses would add hundreds of tons more high-level radioactive waste, lethal for millions of years, to the hundreds of tons already unsafely stored onsite.
Counter Proposal Rejects Newsom’s Plan
California Democratic legislators are now circulating a counter proposal that would reject Gov. Newsom’s plan to extend the lifespan of the state’s last operating nuclear power plant. They would instead speed up the development of renewable energy and storage to maintain reliable power in the climate change era.
Take Action Now!
Contact your California representatives directly! Find your representative here. Call and tell your California representatives to:
- Urge rejection of Newsom’s proposal to “loan” PG&E $1.4 billion to extend Diablo 20 more years! Do NOT exempt it from state environmental and safety regulations!
- Urge that Diablo be shut down as scheduled by 2025 (if not sooner!)
- Urge support of legislation that speeds up the transition to renewable energy sources and clean resilient technologies.
Sign this petition to support California legislators who reject Gov. Newsom’s plan to extend the lifespan of Diablo Canyon.
To the Governor and State Legislators:
Please don’t gamble with California’s future! Shut Down Diablo Canyon Reactors. All state officials and elected representatives must honor the legally binding agreement to close Diablo Canyon in 2024/25 that was agreed upon by PG&E, environmental groups and unions, approved by the CPUC, voted on by the legislature and signed into law in 2018.
Do not be railroaded into voting for unconstitutional, last-minute, unexamined legislation that would completely reverse California’s clean energy policies and progress.
Diablo’s 1960’s technology is dangerously dated, expensive and unreliable. It can’t be counted on to avoid power outages which have been occurring with Diablo Canyon in operation. It would also block deployment of additional renewable energy sources.
Invest instead in renewables, energy storage and energy efficiency that would not add carbon or radioactive wastes to the planet!