nuclear power

JONES DENOUNCES $1.4 BILLION LOAN TO PG&E AND POTENTIAL RATE HIKES IN BILL SIGNED BY GOVERNOR TO KEEP DIABLO CANYON NUKE PLANT OPEN

“Those of us living in San Diego County already pay the highest  electrical rates in the nation, and they’ll go even higher with an added bill from Diablo Canyon cost.” –Senator Brian Jones

By Miriam Raftery

Photo: Diablo Canyon; Creative Commons license by Tracey Adams

September 9, 2022 (San Diego’s East County) – State Senator Brian Jones (R-Santee) has issued blistering condemnation of SB 846, a bill signed into law by Governor Gavin Newsom which aims to keep open the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant for five years beyond the scheduled 2025 closure date. But the bill also authorizes a $1.4 billion loan to the plant’s operator, Pacific Gas & Electric, and opens the door for potential rate hikes statewide.

“”I voted against electricity rate hikes and the $1.4 billion gift to PG&E – I did not vote against Diablo Canyon and nuclear power,” says Senator Jones, in an editorial sent to media outlets.


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CITIZENS OVERSIGHT SAYS CPUC VIOLATED OPEN MEETING LAWS



Demand Letter is the First Step to Legal Action



June 16, 2013 (San Diego) -- Citizens' Oversight, an organization that encourages citizens to take an active role in oversight of their democracy, submitted a demand letter to the California Public Utilities Commission on June 11 alleging that the CPUC violated open meeting laws by halting the group’s representative, Ray Lutz (photo, left), from videotaping  a recent public meeting on the San Onofre nuclear plant held in San Francisco.  The watchdog group’s letter seeks removal of the CPUC’s administrative law judge from the proceedings and other remedies.

Martha Sullivan with the Coalition to Decommission San Onofre said, "It was disheartening to see the CPUC judge presiding over this investigation of multi-billion dollar regulated utilities be more concerned with their privacy than allowing the Southern California public to observe the evidentiary hearings."


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SAN ONOFRE NUCLEAR PLANT TO CLOSE PERMANENTLY

 

 

By Nadin Abbott

June 7, 2013 (San Onofre) – Southern California Edison (SCE) announced today that it will permanently decommission both reactors at its troubled Onofre nuclear generation plant.  (SCE has made this decision due to the uncertainty brought by the increased requirements for safety from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). 

“Looking ahead,” said Ron Litzinger, SCE’s President, “we think that our decision to retire the units will eliminate uncertainty and facilitate orderly planning for California’s energy future.” 

The nuclear waste on-site will remain there in dry cask storage—encased in stainless steel and concrete—until national leaders come up with a permanent storage solution, Patch.com reported.


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SAN ONOFRE IN LIMBO

ECM Editor's note: A report released Friday by the Nuclear Regulatory Agency raises new questions over how much SDG&E, Southern California Edison and Mitsubishi knew about design flaws before installation of tubes that later failed.  Two Senators raise grave concerns, suggesting public safety across our region was knowingly put at risk.



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AGUIRRE ACCUSES EDISON OF SCHEMING TO IMPOSE RATE HIKES WITHOUT PUBLIC REVIEW TO PAY FOR FAILED SAN ONOFRE NUCLEAR REACTORS

 

February 12, 2013 (San Diego)--This morning, ratepayer advocate and former San Diego City Attorney Michael J. Aguirre revealed details behind a new legal action against Southern California Edison (SCE) with what he terms “smoking gun documents showing how SCE executives have unlawfully levied multiple rate hikes on San Diego and Southern California ratepayers without formal approval from regulators.”

Aguirre is demanding refunds from Southern California Edison and SDG&E for ratepayers in our region, which is home to the highest electric rates in the USA.


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NRC TO FACE PUBLIC STEAMED OVER COVERUP OF REACTOR DEFECTS



Safety Advocates to Rally and Hold Press Conference before Public Meeting on San Onofre nuclear facility Feb. 12 in Capistrano



Feb 11, 2012 (San Onofre)– Experts and oversight groups say they are astonished by the proposal by Southern California Edison to restart the Unit 2 reactor and run it at 70% capacity, putting millions of residents at risk of another emergency shutdown and radioactivity release to the environment, or worse.

A rally and press conference in opposition to restarting the San Onofre nuclear plant will be held at 4:00 p.m., Feb. 12, just prior to the 6:00 p.m. public meeting conducted by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) at the Capo Beach Church, 25975 Domingo Avenue, Capistrano Beach, California.

Edison and the NRC are facing challenges to restart from a number of directions:


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ECM WORLD WATCH: GLOBAL AND NATIONAL NEWS

February 7, 2013 (San Diego’s East County)--ECM World Watch helps you be an informed citizen about important issues globally and nationally. As part of our commitment to reflect all voices and views, we include links to a wide variety of news sources representing a broad spectrum of political, religious, and social views. Top world and U.S. headlines include:

NATIONAL

WORLD

SCIENCE AND HEALTH

Read more for excerpts and links to full stories.


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SAN DIEGO UNIFIED SCHOOL BOARD TO CONSIDER RESOLUTION JAN. 22 TO OPPOSE RESTARTING OF SAN ONOFRE NUCLEAR REACTOR

Update January 23: The board passed this resolution, joining several Coastal City Councils in calling for an adjudicated license amendment hearing by the NRC

January 21, 2013 (San Diego) – San Diego Unified School District Board Vice President, Kevin Beiser and Board Member Richard Barrera are introducing a Resolution (Agenda Item H.1) similar to that passed by the Del Mar City Council last fall, calling for an adjudicated license amendment process by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission on the restart of the defective San Onofre nuclear reactor proposed by Southern California Edison. Eight and half million people live within the 50-mile potential evacuation radius around San Onofre. The action will be considered Tuesday January 22 at 5 p.m.; a press conference will be held at 4 p.m. Details below.

According to SDUSD Board Vice President Beiser, “The Board of Education of the San Diego Unified School District is considering this Resolution because restarting the defective Unit 2 nuclear reactor at San Onofre will have profound impacts on our children in San Diego Unified and the surrounding communities in the event of a nuclear accident regarding radiation contamination of air, water and food, evacuation plans, and long term viability of life in Southern California.”


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RENO DISPATCH: BREAKING NEWS: IS NUCLEAR POWER DONE IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA?

January 8, 2013 (San Diego) – Will there be no more nukes in Southern California? That now appears to be a very real possibility. It's been a year now since a radioactive steam leak lead to the closure of the two aging reactors at the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS), which is located between San Diego and Los Angeles. The power plant is not expected to reboot any time soon, if ever.

Last month, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) issued a Request for Additional Information to Southern California Edison, the plant's majority owner, for its review of the company’s restart idea, asking the utility to provide evidence that reactor Unit 2, which Edison wants to reboot, can be operated safely.

http://therenodispatch.blogspot.com/2013/01/breaking-news-is-nuclear-pow...


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NUCLEAR POWER IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA: CAN WE AFFORD IT? JULY 12

July 11, 2012 (San Diego) – The Sustainability Alliance of Southern California is holding discussion of nuclear power in Southern California on July 12 from 5:30 – 7:30 p.m. at the California Center for Sustainable Energy, 8690 Balboa Ave., Suite 100, San Diego.  The presenters are Rochelle Becker, Executive Director of the Alliance for Nuclear Responsibility and John Geesman, Former Executive Director and Commissioner of the California Energy Commission.


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ECM WORLD WATCH: GLOBAL AND NATIONAL NEWS

 
May 9, 2012 --  (San Diego’s East County) – ECM World Watch helps you be an informed citizen about important issues globally and nationally. As part of our commitment to reflecting all voices and views, we include links to a wide variety of news sources representing a broad spectrum of political, religious, and social views. Top world and U.S. headlines include:   
 
 
 
 
 
U.S.     
  • Gouged by the Wind Renewable fuel mandates are raising electricity prices in the states. 
  • Obama makes his case for another term
  • Should Mitt Romney worry about Ron Paul? (Christian Science Monitor)
  • How Ron Paul could mess with Romney at the GOP convention (Bloomberg)
  • Key 9-11 suspects to appear in court (BBC)
  • CIA thwarts new underwear bomb plot by al Qaeda (CBS)
  • U.N.:  U.S. should give back stolen lands to Indian tribes (UK Guardian)
  • U.S. unemployment falls to 8.1 percent, economy adds 115,000 new jobs (RawStory)
  • Wind farms warming Texas (Discovery News)
WORLD
  • Thousands rejoice as Japan shuts off nuclear power (NPR)
  • Socialists celebrate as French vote nears close (Reuters)
  • Socialist Hollande in, Sarkozy out as France elects new president (CNN)
  • Greek’s governing parties lose majority at polls (BBC)
  • Putin returns to presidency in a changed Russia (UT San Diego)
  • Rupert Murdoch declared unfit to lead: The price of half-truths? (Christian Science Monitor)
  • Running blind: Chinese activist’s dramatic escape (UT San Diego/AP)
  • Ahmadinejad’s support crumbles in Iran runoff (UT San Diego)
  • The sorry lessons of green power subsidies (Globe and Mail)
  • Antarctic ice melting from below – video (Christian Science Monitor)
 
Scroll down for excerpts and links to full stories.  

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READER’S EDITORIAL: CAPITOL HILL NUCLEAR POWER ADVOCACY REPORT

Local pastor visits 60 Congressional offices and meets with CA Senators; Feinstein pledges to oppose new nuclear plants

 

By Rev. Peter Moore-Kochlacs

Special Correspondent for the Southern California Ecumenical Council, the National Religious Coalition for Creation Care and the Green Ecumenical and Interfaith Religious Communities in California

 

May 14, 2011 (El Cajon) -- April 29 to May 6 was a working week for me in Washington, DC. I was in the Capitol advocating against our government’s current new nuclear power public policies.

 

Visiting over 60 Congressional Senate and House offices, I made the point on moral, safety and financial grounds that in light of the Fukushima, Japan nuclear power plant accidents and other problems inherent with nuclear energy, the federal government should stop permitting the building of new US land-based nuclear power plants.


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25 YEARS AFTER CHERNOBYL, CHILDREN PAY A TRAGIC PRICE

 

Nuclear disaster offers lessons to be learned in San Diego, as safety questions arise over San Onofre

 

By Miriam Raftery
 


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SAN DIEGO A GHOST REGION FOR 10,000 YEARS? NUCLEAR SAFETY QUESTIONED AS SAN DIEGANS BEGIN A MOVEMENT TO SHUT DOWN SAN ONOFRE

 

Nuclear Regulatory Hearing April 28 on San Onofre safety

By Helen Villines
Editor Miriam Raftery also contributed to this report

 

“What if you had just 15 minutes to evacuate, looking around your apartment or house, trying to quickly decide what you will take, how overwhelmed would you be – knowing you couldn’t return for ten thousand years?” he asks.

 


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WILL POWER REPORT: KILLING THE OCEANS

 

Nothing but the Truth!

 

April 7, 2011 (San Diego) -- Ecologists have been saying for years that continued buildup of radioactive waste with no safe storage would haunt us. They also reminded us nuclear reactors are vulnerable to earthquakes and terrorist attacks.

 

Now albacore tuna, the tasty white-meat fish so beloved of afternoon sandwiches and tuna salads, are showing up with high levels off radiation from the Japanese tsunami.


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WILL POWER REPORT: LEVEL SEVEN

Editor's note:  This column was deleted at the request of the author for further fact-checking.  

 


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SAFETY OF U.S. NUCLEAR REACTORS QUESTIONED: CA SENATORS CALL FOR INSPECTION OF STATE’S NUCLEAR PLANTS

 

“The most inexpensive way to meet your SQ (seismic qualification) is to lie. The industry does it all the time.”

--Greg Palast, former lead investigator in  government nuclear plant fraud and racketeering investigations

 

By Miriam Raftery
 

 

March 17, 2011 (San Diego’s East County) –Catastrophic failures at a half dozen nuclear facilities in Fukushima, Japan has led to questions regarding the safety of nuclear reactors in America-- both existing facilities and new ones proposed—including some designed or operated by the same companies responsible for the nuclear meltdowns in Japan.


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EDITORIAL: RENEWABLE ENERGY—A CONSERVATIVE APPROACH

 

By Tracy Emblem

October 18, 2009 (San Diego)--No new nuclear power plants have been built in the United States since the late 1970's. Recently however, Senator Lamar Alexander from Tennessee unveiled the Republican blueprint to build 100 nuclear power plants in the United States within the next 20 years.

 

Apparently the lessons learned from the 1986 Chernobyl power plant reactor meltdown that caused the worst nuclear accident ever have been forgotten. In the United States in 1979, we almost had a similar accident when a partial meltdown occurred at Three Mile Island but the reactor was brought under control just in time.


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