Published: Sunday, Sep. 20, 2009
No meeting halfway on nuke licensing rules
After protests, NRC agrees to reschedule hearing slated for point equidistant — and far — from Diablo Canyon and San Onofre plants
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closeBowing to local pressure, the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission has agreed to reschedule a hearing to take public comment on generic rules governing the renewal of nuclear power plant licenses.
The meeting had been set for Tuesday evening in Westlake Village, a Los Angeles County town near Thousand Oaks.
However, local elected officials and activists argued that San Luis Obispo County residents were unlikely to attend a meeting held about 160 miles away.
The agency has agreed to postpone the hearing to an undetermined later date and location, said Roger Hannah, NRC spokesman.
Two separate hearings are also possible, or the agency will try to find a location more convenient to the public.
The Westlake Village location had been selected because it is equidistant between the state’s two nuclear power plants — Diablo Canyon and San Onofre — and near Highway 101, Hannah said.
However, San Luis Obispo County Supervisor Adam Hill — whose district includes Diablo Canyon — and Rep. Lois Capps, D-Santa Barbara, and multiple local activists protested.
They want the meeting to be held locally.
Preferably, separate hearings at each power plant should be held, they said.
David Weisman of Morro Bay, with the Alliance for Nuclear Responsibility, said, “The halfway point in Westlake Village may be mathematically accurate, but it is exponentially inconvenient.”
The purpose of the meeting is to take public comment on a generic environmental impact statement the agency has prepared for an update of rules governing what issues must be examined when a utility applies to renew an operating license for its nuclear power plant.
Pacific Gas and Electric Co. is expected to apply to renew Diablo Canyon’s two operating licenses — which expire in 2024 and 2025 — but no final decision has been made.
If an application is made, PG&E will be given a separate list of environmental issues specific to Diablo Canyon that must be examined, Hannah said.
Reach David Sneed at 781-7930.
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