Since our focus has largely been about nuclear issues, I want to start by letting you know that today, 5/23/16, is the last day to register to vote in California's primary, (FYI - Bernie Sanders is the only candidate that is calling to phase out nuclear power). Please remind friends and family. It is quick and easy to do at http://registertovote.ca.gov/

Breaking NEWS...

The possibility of Southern California becoming a nuclear wasteland has just been confirmed in this article. In a highly regarded report released last Friday, experts said

enough is not being done to prevent a calamitous nuclear fuel fire. 

The 222 page report, written by 17 distinguished nuclear physicists, engineers, and other scientists, said the industry and the NRC calculations were too narrow. "In fact, a spent fuel pool accident can result in large radioactive material releases, extensive land contamination, and large-scale population dislocations," it said. Panel member Frank von Hippel, an emeritus professor and senior research physicist at Princeton University, said that in its "deeply-flawed" cost-benefit analysis, the NRC also excluded consideration of the consequences of property contamination more than 50 miles from a radiation release, even though a broader release is clearly possible.  "There were some important issues that were not considered," said Joseph E. Shepherd, a professor of aeronautics and mechanical engineering at the California Institute of Technology who chaired the Academies board that conducted the study.  Nuclear regulators say that since the destructive impact from a drained spent fuel pool is "unknowable", that it need not be considered,  (an outrageous case of denial from those we count on for our protection). 

This is the not-so impressive condition of San Onofre's lethal nuclear waste pool.  Even to the layperson,  this looks like outdated technology in disarray.

As if that was not enough to be concerned about...

Last week I also got a detailed anonymous letter from a high level employee currently working at SONGS. As you probably know, this is how we got involved in nuclear issues in the first place, when we were warned about the steam generators two years before they leaked. T his letter concerns matters of  corruption, bad contracts, flawed waste storage containers and dangerous pools. 

Making matters even worse...

I also recently heard from David Lochbaum, nuclear expert at the Union of Concerned Scientists, that there is another reason why "irradiated fuel in spent fuel pools is an undue hazard", (the point being that dry storage is the lesser of two evils). He explained that " if water doesn't drain from the pool, a critical mass can occur anyway. The neutron absorbers installed in the racks have not aged well -- some has leached into the water and some has sagged to the bottom of the racks due to gravity leaving the upper portions of the fuel unprotected.  This protection is far from reliable ".