Report calling for Diablo Canyons closure raises concerns locally Senate committee led by Barbara Boxer plans hearings on plants earthquake risks BY DAVID SNEED | SLO Trombone (aka Tribune) August 25, 2014 The federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission says it does not have a timeline for when it will formally respond to a report by a former resident inspector at Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant who recommended that the plant be shut down until it can be proven that it can safely withstand an earthquake along the newly discovered Shoreline fault. Michael Peck, former senior resident inspector at the plant, filed a differing professional opinion with the NRC, criticizing the agency’s 2009 review of the seismic safety implications of the Shoreline fault that runs just offshore of the plant. The agency refused to release the report, but a leaked copy was released Monday by the environmental group Friends of the Earth. In light of the report, a U.S. Senate committee led by U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer is planning hearings on earthquake risks at Diablo Canyon, according to The Associated Press. Boxer, who chairs the Environment and Public Works Committee, says that the NRC is failing to do its job to protect public safety. She also says she’s alarmed that the agency hasn’t acted even though Peck’s recommendation was made a year ago. Peck, a senior technical training instructor with the NRC, filed the report in July 2013, and the agency has not made a formal response. Until the formal response is complete, the agency cannot comment on Peck’s report, said Lara Uselding, NRC spokeswoman. The NRC and plant owner Pacific Gas and Electric Co. continue to maintain that the plant can withstand even the most powerful quake that the Shoreline and other faults surrounding the plant can produce. Read more here: sanluisobispo/2014/08/25/3211883_report-diablo-canyon-closure-nrc.html?rh=1#storylink=cpy
Posted on: Mon, 01 Sep 2014 17:07:41 +0000
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