At California Nuclear Plant, Earthquake Response Plan Not Required

[robdogbucky]

At California Nuclear Plant, Earthquake Response Plan Not Required

"As the world's attention remains focused on the nuclear calamity unfolding in Japan, American nuclear regulators and industry lobbyists have been offering assurances that plants in the United States are designed to withstand major earthquakes.

But the Diablo Canyon nuclear plant, which sits less than a mile from an offshore fault line, was not required to include earthquakes in its emergency response plan as a condition of being granted its license more than a quarter of a century ago. Though experts warned from the beginning that the plant would be vulnerable to an earthquake, asserting 25 years ago that it required an emergency plan as a condition of its license, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission fought against making such a provision mandatory as it allowed the facility to be built.

Officials at Pacific Gas and Electric Company, the utility that operates Diablo Canyon, did not respond to calls seeking comment before the story was published. After publication, a spokesman for the company said the plant does have an earthquake procedure that had been implemented during a 2003 earthquake near the facility, and that staff are trained to respond. The company did not provide further details upon request.

As Americans absorb the spectacle of a potential nuclear meltdown in Japan -- one of the world's most proficient engineering powers -- the regulatory review that ultimately enabled Diablo Canyon to be built without an earthquake response plan amplifies a gnawing question: Could the tragedy in Japan happen at home..."

http://m.aol.com/portal/file-01.do?file=N9992%2FN4133%2FN512344133%2Ftnsc-372415489.html



Could the tragedy in Japan happen at home?



"...Me, I'm waiting so patiently
Lying on the floor
I'm just trying to do my jig-saw puzzle
Before it rains anymore..."

Jagger/Richards



rdb

[CountAllVotes]

1. I called PG&E the other day

I was trying to find out information about a shut-down nuclear plant not far from where I once lived (high cancer rates!).

They kept telling me it was called the Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant which it is not called! These people are such damned idiots that they don't even know their geography!

There were NO alerts where I live - none!

I have since time written letters to Sen. Boxer (who seems to give a damn) and also Pres. Obama (who may or may not give a damn).

PG&E cannot be trusted if they cannot even read a map! :mad: :grr: :argh:

:kick:

[felix_numinous]

2. Nuclear safety in CA affects the whole country

- we are all downwind, nothing to fret about. Details. :sarcasm:

[robdogbucky]

3. And look who wrote the opinion?

"...The case made its way to the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C., where a 5-4 majority -- including current Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia and former Clinton independent counsel Kenneth Starr -- ruled that earthquakes did not have to be included in the plant's emergency response plans..."

http://m.aol.com/portal/file-01.do?file=N9992%2FN4133%2FN512344133%2Ftnsc-372415489.html


Now, don't you feel better about this?

Were their careers given a boost by decisions like this?

Follow the money

Is it fascism yet?



"...Me, I'm waiting so patiently
Lying on the floor
I'm just trying to do my jig-saw puzzle
Before it rains anymore..."

Jagger/Richards



rdb