Nuclear Constipation

There is a Nuclear Regulatory Commission meeting at the Embassy Suites Hotel, San Luis Obispo, on October 6, 9:30 a.m. till 3:15 p.m. Please attend as much of the meeting as you are able.

Here’s What the NRC has up its sleeve:

Because Yucca Mountain is no longer an option for disposal of nuclear waste, the NRC is planning to store highly radioactive waste on our seismically active coastline for many, many years to come. The agency is at the beginning stages of re-writing its “Waste Confidence Ruling,” a bureaucratic way of saying that they plan to write a rule that allows at least 60 more years of storage of nuclear waste at Diablo, and at the other 103 nuclear plants across the nation.

In the meantime, the NRC continues its pattern of issuing 20-year license renewals to nuclear plants across the nation, which increases the amount of radioactive waste to be stored at each plants site.

Please attend and speak out. You don’t have to be an expert. Speak your truth.

• The NRC is required by law to seek public input, but the record is that our “input” is mostly filed in the round file! Challenge the NRC staff people to listen for a change!

• If the NRC values public confidence, it should stop using language that reminds us of “doublespeak” in the George Orwell novel 1984. This document should not be called a “Waste Confidence Rule,” as it is absurd to claim confidence that humankind will be able to isolate radioactive waste from all life forms for 250,000 years.

• The spent fuel pools at Diablo have in common with all other plants that the fuel rods are stored at many times the density for which the pools were designed, adding greatly to the danger of fire and radioactive releases.

• Thirteen known earthquake faults are in the near vicinity of Diablo Canyon, adding to the danger of radioactive waste stored in densely packed pools. It should be moved into dry casks at an accelerated rate; and the casks should not be lined up in close proximity, but scattered and protected from attack.

• Do not allow radioactive wastes to be transported on trucks, trains and barges. That only makes it more vulnerable to terrorists.

• Since “nuclear constipation” (the industry’s term) is a fact of life, with nowhere for it to go, stop making more wastes! Stop these insane license renewals!–Elaine Pedigo, SLO