Unsatisfied with meeting 

Members of the group San Luis Obispo Mothers for Peace left a June 26 Diablo Canyon meeting frustrated. Held at the SLO Embassy Suites, the meeting had been called to discuss a recent assessment made by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff.

The report, ordered by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, was supposed to evaluate the risks and possible consequences of a terrorist attack on the dry casks currently being built by Pacific Gas & Electric Co. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission, PG&E staff, and approximately 50 members of the public attended the meeting.

"They come and say they're listening to the public but nothing really changes. We're concerned about the operation, the storage of the waste, and their emergency evacuation plans," Mothers for Peace activist Liz Apfelberg said. "They didn't do what the court ordered them to, which was to honestly assess the work."

According to the report, the likelihood of a terrorist attack on the dry casks is very low as is the amount of high-level radiation that would reach the public. The commission regulates the amount of radiation allowed to reach the public at five rem, which is also the amount the commission reports will reach the public in the event of an attack.

Apfelberg said the group's work is not done and they will continue to fight the assessment. Mothers for Peace plans to file a formal response ordering the NRC to do more work and go into further details on how their conclusions were met.

"As long as they're coming, we have to come out," Apfelberg said.