Public Interest Briefs
Public Interest Briefs track CLIPI’s filings, funding, coalition wins, showing how each step drives policy change and nurtures advocates.
Center Prepares for Diablo Canyon Seismic Hearings
PG&E Will Not Pursue Request for Interim License
In response to pressure brought by Center attorneys, Pacific Gas and Electric has decided that it will not pursue its request for an interim operating license for the Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant. That plant, located in San Luis Obispo, lies less than three miles from a major earthquake fault capable of generating a tremor of a larger magnitude than the plant has been designed to withstand. PG&E’s request to the Nuclear Regulatory Licensing Board to waive part of its safety regulations and to allow a two-year “interim” license because of what the utility claimed was a “low probability that a sizeable earthquake would occur on the fault near the plant during the next two years” was strongly opposed by Center attorneys who called the interim license an attempt to “sneak the plant around the back door.”
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Arguing that there was no sound legal basis for granting the interim license, Center attorneys presented evidence that took sharp issue with PG&E’s statement about the probable risks. Since it is still virtually impossible to predict earthquakes, no one can speak with any accuracy about the “probability” of an earthquake occurring within the next two years. Granting the request for the interim license would have allowed the Diablo plant to operate without a thorough analysis of the seismic danger.
The Center is now preparing for the critical seismic portion of the licensing hearings which are tentatively scheduled to be held this coming fall, and which will, hopefully, result in full examination of the earthquake dangers. The Center will argue that the fault adjacent to the nuclear plant is capable of producing a significantly larger earthquake than the one PG&E contends the plant is designed to withstand and that the plant’s operating components are not designed to withstand the maximum ground notion (acceleration) that would ensue if a sizable earthquake occurs. Both problems raise the possibility of a dangerous release of radioactive material.
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Spring ’78 sees CLIPI blocking Diablo Canyon’s interim license while preparing seismic challenges, winning major reforms for jailed inebriates in Sundance, fighting LAPD sex bias in court, suing Allstate for inflated rates, securing initiative signature access, battling warrantless mail covers, and challenging San Diego station license renewals.
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