El Diablo Nuke: Sitting on the Fault Line

http://action.foe.org/p/dia/action3/common/public/?action_KEY=17368

El Diablo Nuclear Plant is on a Fault Line:

Tell your legislators not to let PG&E put Californians at risk!

Dear Kimberly-Ann,

There is new and really scary news about a nuclear disaster waiting to happen -- right in our backyard. We need your help to protect Californians from this major safety risk!

On Sunday, we learned that the Diablo Canyon nuclear reactors on California’s central coast could be vulnerable in the event of an earthquake. For thirty years, PG&E -- which operates the reactors -- has been relying on safety equipment that used the wrong seismic and accident design data.

So what does this mean? It means that this equipment -- which is crucial to safe operation of the reactors -- might not be able to withstand a violent earthquake.

Why is this such a big deal? Because the reactors are located right in the middle of several major fault lines -- the kind of fault lines that are, in fact, capable of causing a major earthquake! It’s time for our elected officials to step in and make PG&E pay for the safety risks it’s caused.

The legislature’s opinion influences the Public Utility Commission, so we need to make our voices heard!

Tell your legislators to hold PG&E accountable for gambling with Californians’ safety!

We already know what can happen when an earthquake prompts a major nuclear accident -- we saw it four years ago at Fukushima. There, the reactors experienced a simultaneous earthquake and loss of coolant accident, which led to the reactors melting down. As a result, massive areas were contaminated by radiation, and more than a hundred thousand people had to be evacuated.

That’s the exact kind of accident that PG&E has not tested for.

This is a clear, sustained, and prolonged violation of Diablo’s operating license and it leaves Californians exposed to a Fukushima-type disaster.

Tell your legislators not to let PG&E put Californians at risk!

To add insult to injury, this safety risk is costing us a lot of money. Already, a billion dollars of ratepayer money was spent on equipment that did not comply with the licensing requirements or assure our safety.

But now, PG&E has duped the Public Utility Commission into giving it another hundred million dollars to cover up its negligence! Under cover of the innocuously named “Licensing Basis Verification Project,” PG&E is conducting an after-the-fact, pencil and paper exercise to argue that there is no problem.

Enough is enough -- it’s time for the PUC to intervene! The PUC needs to make PG&E pay for its own negligence. If defective equipment was installed and we paid, the PUC must investigate and assure that the public interest, not corporate profits, is protected.

Tell your legislators to make the PUC investigate PG&E’s negligence!

Sincerely,
Damon Moglen,
Senior strategic advisor,
Friends of the Earth