PRESS RELEASE AND MEDIA ADVISORY FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
PUBLIC to NRC: No Restart! Adjudicated License Amendment Hearing NOW! NRC Holds Postponed Public Meeting on Edison's Plan to Restart Defective San Onofre Nuclear Reactor EVENT DETAILS: Event: NRC Public Meeting
Date/Time: Friday, November 30, 2012 / 6-9 p.m.
Location: The Hills Hotel, 25205 La Paz Rd, Laguna Hills CA
Event: Press Conference by Coalition to Decommission San Onofre
Date/Time: Friday, November 30, 2012 / 4 p.m.
Location: Outside the Hills Hotel, 25205 La Paz Rd, Laguna Hills CA
November 28, 2012 (SAN ONOFRE, CA) – A coalition of community advocacy groups opposed to the restart of the defective San Onofre Nuclear Power Plant will attend the public meeting rescheduled by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to consider Southern California Edison's plan to restart the defective nuclear reactor Unit 2 at San Onofre.
This will follow the March to Decommission San Onofre, led by four Buddhist Monks from the Dana Point Harbor parking lot at 9:00 a.m. to the San Onofre State Beach campground at about 2:00 p.m. For further information, contact Carol Jahnkow or Gene Stone listed under Contacts.
Our Coalition stands by our Core Message delivered at the NRC's public meeting in Dana Point on October 9, 2012:
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We oppose Edison's proposed re-start of their defective nuclear reactor Unit 2 at the San Onofre Nuclear Power Plant.
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We demand a full, transparent Adjudicatory Hearing and License Amendment process, including evidentiary hearings with sworn testimony and cross-examination which include experts independent of the NRC, Edison and the nuclear power industry.
This public meeting tonight is NOT a substitute for this process. Given how we got to this point and the serious loss of faith by the public in the NRC and Edison as a result, we can see no reason why all five NRC Commissioners would not want this as well.
NRC proceedings regarding San Onofre should be conducted in the area most impacted by the decisions of these proceedings and should accommodate the more than 1,000 concerned citizens who are expected to attend – as they have consistently shown this year.
A growing number of Southern California City Councils have added their voice to our call for an adjudicated License Amendment and hearing process prior to restart of the crippled San Onofre Nuclear Power Plant in defense of their residents and businesses, including Del Mar, Encinitas, Irvine, Laguna Beach, Mission Viejo, Santa Monica and Solana Beach. The cities of San Clemente and Vista have joined in Senators Boxer's and Feinstein's call for the NRC to modify its policies and procedures in light of the Fukushima meltdowns, to further protect their residents and businesses.
On November 8, 2012, the five Nuclear Regulatory Commissioners ruled on petitions filed by Friends of the Earth in June of this year calling for the foregoing. Specifically, the Commission:
> Referred to the Atomic Safety & Licensing Board (ASLB) whether the current Confirmatory Action Letter (CAL) process is a de facto license amendment process, requiring an adjudicatory public hearing;
> Referred to the Executive Director of Operations (EDO) whether Edison should have sought a license amendment, with attendant adjudicatory hearings, when it installed the defective steam generators in 2010-11;
> Offered to reconsider convening an adjudicatory hearing if the ASLB denies FoE's request;
> Offered to reconsider staying the restart of the idled reactors if restart becomes "imminent" before the completion of the processes ordered above.
The Coalition to Decommission San Onofre is comprised of community-based, grassroots organizations in San Diego and Orange Counties concerned for the safety of 8.5 million residents living within 50 miles of the crippled San Onofre Nuclear Power Plant, and for the economy of Southern California. We continue to hold the five members of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission accountable.
Additional Key Information:
Southern California Edison wants to restart one of their broken nuclear reactors without fixing it first.[1] The plant has been off-line since 1/31/2012 due to radiation leaks and excessive tube wear in newly replaced steam generators[2] that are the worst in the nation. See Tubes Plugged Chart[3] and Fairewinds Associates report: San Onofre's Steam Generators: Significantly Worse than all Others Nationwide.[4] The NRC says design changes in these steam generators are flawed,[5] making the reactors unsafe.
California has excess power without California's unreliable nuclear power plants, even during peak summer months, according to California government documents[6]. And the California ISO's electricity grid Transmission Plan[6] says there will be no grid stability concerns with San Onofre shut down.
CONTACTS:
Citizens' Oversight Projects (COPs): Ray Lutz /
RayLutz@CitizensOversight.org /
619-820-5321 Peace Resource Center of San Diego: Carol Jahnkow /
caroljahnkow@gmail.com /
760-390-0775 Residents Organizing for a Safe Environment (ROSE): Gene Stone /
genston@sbcglobal.net /
949-233-7724 San Clemente Green: Gary Headrick /
gary@sanclementegreen.org /
949-218-4051 References:
[1]
http://sanonofresafety.org/2012/10/14/union-of-concerned-scientists-questions-restart-of-san-onofre-unit-2-nuclear-reactor/ [2]
http://sanonofresafety.org/category/steam-generator/ [3]
http://sanonofresafety.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/pluggedtubesbyage2012-10-10.pdf [4]
http://fairewinds.org/content/san-onofre%E2%80%99s-steam-generators-significantly-worse-all-others-nationwide [5]
http://sanonofresafety.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/badvibrations2012-06-28.pdf [6]
http://sanonofresafety.org/energy-options/ ###
-- ----------------------- Ray Lutz Citizens' Oversight CitizensOversight.org 619-820-5321
