Experts Concern About California’s Only Nuclear Plant Safety After Powerful Earthquake
18:46 26/08/2014 MOSCOW, August 26 (RIA Novosti) - California’s nuclear experts concern about the safety of the state’s only operating nuclear power plant Diablo Canyon after the strongest earthquake in nearly 25 years hit the region over the weekend, The Associated Press reports.
The news agency has obtained and verified a copy of the 42-page report of Michael Peck, who for five years was a leading on-site inspector at the Californian plant.
Though filed in 2013, the report urged regulators to shut down the last operating nuclear plant in California until they determine whether the facility can withstand powerful shaking.
AP says Peck did not say the plant itself was unsafe, but rather noted that “no one knows whether the facility's key equipment can withstand strong shaking from those faults — the potential for which was realized decades after the facility was built”.
Michael Peck also stressed that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) was not applying the safety rules it set out for the plant's operation.
An environmental group Friends of the Earth has also obtained a copy of the report, The Wire news website reported on Monday.
"We agree with him [Michael Peck] that Diablo Canyon is vulnerable to earthquakes and must be shut down immediately. Rather than the NRC keeping this a secret, there must be a thorough investigation with public hearings to determine whether these reactors can operate safely," the website quotes Damon Moglen, a strategic adviser at Friens of the Earth as saying.
Pacific Gas and Electric Co, which operates Diablo Canyon, however has assured that the plant had undergone a check for earthquake dangers and “is seismically safe”.
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