From San Clemente Green
This is truly a race against time, but many potential victims remain unaware of the threat. In approving the coastal permit, the California Coastal Commission (CCC) put in a condition that requires Edison to evaluate sea level rise in 2035. We are asking the CCC to take the initiative and request an analysis for conditions that may require moving Spent Nuclear Fuel (SNF) to higher ground. The time has come, sooner than expected and we can’t afford to wait for another decade or more to pass. The planning must begin now. You can help by signing our petition here, which is already well underway. We can’t wait until 2035 to re-evaluate sea level rise, as the permit currently is written.
Please also sign our petition for urgent state legislation to give Californians more say over how nuclear waste is to be stored while it remains stranded here for a very uncertain number of decades. The canisters were only intended to last for twenty years in temporary storage until they could be shipped to Yucca Mountain, Nevada, which has been abandoned before completion due to water infiltration primarily.
Some canisters have already been in service for 17 years. Edison estimates thirty years is the most optimistic target to get it moved to a temporary site, which is being met with all kinds of resistance by those being put at great risk in places like Texas and New Mexico.
Your support will help us garner more co-sponsors for the bill being finalized now. I will share it with you as soon as it is available. Its purpose is to require the Office of Planning and Research (OPR) to develop a plan to build a hot cell and robust storage facility on higher ground.
Preemption by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission is not applicable because the OPR is only fulfilling its duty to make a plan. They are required to develop and maintain radiological emergency preparedness and response plans. Without a spent fuel pool, slated for destruction soon, there is no plan. It is all being left to chance and that is unacceptable.
