Deny Diablo License

San Luis Obispo Mothers for Peace strongly urges the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to follow the lead of the European Union.

European Union energy officials agreed on Tuesday, March 15, to apply stress tests on Europe’s 143 nuclear power plants. The stress tests consist of computer simulations to determine how the facilities would cope with various natural disasters, including earthquakes and tsunamis. The test scenarios will differ, depending on whether the nuclear plant is situated on the coast or near places at risk of earthquake. “The authority of the test must be so high, that those responsible will have to live by the consequences,” EU Energy Commissioner Guenther Oettinger commented.

In addition, seven German reactors that went into operation before 1980 will be offline for three months while Germany reconsiders its plans to extend the life of its atomic power plants. One of them, the Neckarwestheim I reactor, a 35-year-old plant, will remain shut down permanently.

Unit 1 at Diablo Canyon is already 28 years old, and the coast is riddled with over a dozen earthquake faults. Mothers for Peace urges the regulator, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, to protect public safety instead of corporate profit. The NRC must heed the warning of the devastation in Japan and act responsibly for the benefit of the public by denying the license renewal application for Diablo Canyon.

That will still give PG&E 13 years to find other, more responsible, much safer sources of energy to replace that which will be produced by the plant.