What do you do with the comments you get from the public? Are you legally obligated to take public comments into consideration when you make a decision? Who is your boss? Who appointed you? Who pays your salary? What do you do with expert advice that proves Diablo Canyon Power Plant is not safe, sits on faults, proves it needs to be on life support in order to continue, can never be fail-safe because of its age, has breached its promise to shut down by 2024-25, and failed to honor its good faith agreement by asking for an extension.
All the billions donated to Diablo from state and federal taxpayer dollars should: 1. Invest in securing a safe waste disposal, and 2. Invest in a safe alternative energy resource that has a zero harm output. All that is possible. All the technology to operate at zero harm is readily available and applicable. And PG&E should be held legally responsible for ensuring all employees are financially compensated for one year after Diablo is shut down.
All energy and resources should be concentrated on shutting down by the previously agreed upon time of 2024-25 or sooner. PG&E cannot be trusted to honor its commitment as is demonstrated by its failure to meet the terms and conditions of this contract. There is no good faith between the parties, and that is an absolutely essential component to a valid and legitimate contract.
PG&E is a convicted felon. Where is the honor, integrity, and good character component necessary for a valid contract?
Allowing, by means of a legislative mandate, for Diablo to continue beyond the originally agreed upon time is a breach of trust, faith, and oath of office by elected officials. Extending shutdown time is enabling the inevitable possibility of a nonpreventable total disaster from an earthquake.
It is impossible to prevent an earthquake that could destroy life within a 600-square-mile radius of Diablo Canyon Power Plant. Without a guarantee of a safe and harmless continuation of production—even after the proposed risky and totally insufficient life support system is installed that will demand constant input and will never be able to sustain itself—Diablo must be shut down immediately if not sooner for the safety, health, and well-being of this community and all living beings and environmental factors and functions beyond our lifetime.
Declare Diablo Canyon a disaster right now while we can still do something to ensure our safety and well-being and save lives with the innate principle of prevention.
If you, California Public Utilities Commission, cannot guarantee the prevention of an earthquake here and now, then you must do what will prevent the inevitable disaster of a nuclear cluster bomb ignited by an earthquake and remove the trigger point. Diablo Canyon is a trigger point. Shut it down now. Δ
Jean’ne Blackwell writes to New Times from San Luis Obispo. Send a response for publication to letters@newtimesslo.com.
This article appears in Jul 20-30, 2023.
I totally agree.
What is PGE doing about waste disposal? Crickets……….
IT sits on the hill, and it WILL sit on the hill forevah because there is NO plan in place.
This entity needs to be shut down.
I have yet to hear of a plausible plan to replace the electrical power which would be lost by closing Diablo Canyon, especially during times when the sun isn’t shining and the wind isn’t blowing.
SB846 was passed assuming both Diablo Canyon reactors are reliable. However, Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) reactor status data shows one or both Diablo Canyon reactors were down 40% of the days of the year for over the last 4 years. Down time included emergency reactor shutdowns due to aging parts and mismanagement, in addition to scheduled refueling outages. For example, a corroded salt water pump was not replaced until it caused an emergency shutdown.
None of this was addressed in the SB846 hearings. Does the Governor even know all this? The slides I’ve seen from PG&E don’t mention the down time, let alone the causes. Instead, PG&E states they have a high reliability, but they don’t mention this is only when the reactors are operating.
We don’t need Diablo Canyon reactors for grid reliability. Why are we risking a nuclear meltdown for energy we don’t need? I’d take a gas plant any day over a nuclear reactor meltdown.
An NRC Diablo Canyon inspection report said Diablo Canyon employees were concerned PG&E was not going to fix major deferred problems at Diablo Canyon. When I asked PG&E at a Diablo Canyon Safety Committee meeting what these problems were, they were non-responsive. What are they hiding?
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