The Nuclear Regulatory Commission will hold its first community meeting since a June 2 Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decision that ordered the federal body to conduct a study on the environmental impact of a potential terrorist attack on Diablo Canyon.
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The meeting is set for July 25 at the Embassy Suites hotel on Madonna Road in San Luis Obispo. A town hall comment session, at 6 p.m., will follow a 2:30 p.m. safety presentation on the coastal nuclear facility.
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San Luis Obispo Mothers for Peace brought a lawsuit in response to an apparent failure by the NRC to take an attack into account when it licensed power giant PG&E to construct dry storage casks for Diablo Canyon’s spent fuel rods. The second-highest court in the land agreed and prompted the NRC to fix the error, but neglected to issue a direct injunction against PG&E. Stating the decision only affected the NRC, the company continued construction of the storage casks.
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Earlier this month, the peace group asked the NRC to revoke the construction permit. Now they plan to air their grievances before the local public, while the matter awaits a return to court.
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Agency spokesman Victor Dricks stated that the upcoming forum constitutes part of an NRC policy to collect public-safety concerns in areas near nuclear power plants. It wasn’t scheduled in response to the litigation, he said. âˆâ€
This article appears in Jul 20-27, 2006.