Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Utilities’ nuclear power plants threaten millions : Ed Oberweiser | Indybay

It’s painfully obvious that nuclear power is harmful and dangerous. France has had 12 nuclear accidents between 1969 and 2012. Japan has had 12 since 1978. There were 46 nuclear accidents in the United States between 1955 and 2011. 


Photo: The Diablo Nuclear Power Plant, just 600 yards east of the Shoreline Fault, and less than two and a half miles from the Hosgri Fault.


Utilities’ nuclear power plants threaten millions 

"Greedy, uncaring corporations like Pacific Gas and Electric Company and Southern California Edison have put profit above the safety of the biosphere and humanity."


By Ed Oberweiser  | Noyo News 


Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) and Southern California Edison (SCE) have placed millions of California citizens in danger of a nuclear catastrophe on a par with Fukushima. 

They’ve built nuclear power plants near earthquake faults capable of generating earthquakes that could damage the plants and irradiate millions of people. 

PG&E constructed the Diablo Canyon Power Plant on the Central California coast near San Luis Obispo and Morro Bay. The plant is 2.5 miles from the Hosgri Fault. The Hosgri Fault is a component of the San Andreas Fault system. It’s considered capable of generating a 7.5 magnitude earthquake. 

AB1632 Assessment of California’s Operating Nuclear Plants is a 2008 California Energy Commission (CEC) study. According to the study (http://www.energy.ca.gov/2008publications/CEC-100-2008-005/CEC-100-2008-005-F.PDF), “The deep geometry of faults that bound the San Luis-Pismo block, where Diablo Canyon sits, is not understood sufficiently to rule out a San Simeon-type earthquake directly beneath the plant.” 

That same year, the Shoreline Fault was discovered. It’s a 25 kilometer-long fault that lies less than a mile from Diablo Canyon. Some government scientists believe there’s a possibility that faults acting with others in the region could produce a stronger earthquake than Diablo Canyon was constructed to withstand...


The San Onofre nuclear power plant is located near Riverside, Orange and San Diego Counties. It’s closest to the city of San Clemente (population 64,491) in Orange County. Orange County’s population as of 2011 is more than three million. The plant is in the northwestern corner of San Diego County, 68 miles from downtown Los Angeles. San Diego County’s population is more than three million. Riverside County’s population is approximately 2.4 million. The population of Los Angeles County is nearly ten million. San Onofre’s radiation could reach any or all of the three counties in the event of a nuclear disaster. 

The San Onofre nuclear power plant has had problems from its beginning... 

(see NOYO NEWS for complete article)

...Finally, the world has been subjected to the nuclear disaster at Fukushima, Japan where three reactors have melted down. Japanese officials initially assessed the accident as Level 4 on the International Nuclear Event Scale (INES) despite the views of other international agencies that it should be higher. The level was successively raised to 5 and eventually to 7, the maximum scale value. 


It’s painfully obvious that nuclear power is harmful and dangerous. France has had 12 nuclear accidents between 1969 and 2012. Japan has had 12 since 1978. There were 46 nuclear accidents in the United States between 1955 and 2011. 


Greedy, uncaring corporations like Pacific Gas and Electric Company and Southern California Edison have put profit above the safety of the biosphere and humanity.



Utilities’ nuclear power plants threaten millions : Indybay

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