The Water Resources Control Board (WRCB) Nuclear Review Committee will meet April 17th in Sacramento to discuss nuclear plant once-through cooling issues. The Review Committee must provide a final report describing the results of special studies and must present their final report to the State Water Board by October 1, 2013. This is your opportunity to learn more about this and provide public comment before it’s too late.
Email public comments to Shuka Rastegarpour: srastegarpour@waterboards.ca.gov or phone (916) 341-5576.
Wednesday April 17, 2013 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Room 2540 – 25th Floor Joe Serna Jr./Cal/EPA Building 1001 I Street, Sacramento, CA 95814 Notice and Agenda Final Scope of Work Report (red line and strikeout version) WRCB Review Committee for Nuclear Fueled Power Plants website Subscribe to WRCB online (receive updates on WRCB Ocean Issues – Once-Through Cooling) .
The San Onofre and Diablo Canyon nuclear reactors kill millions of fish and other aquatic life every year, due to their once-through cooling (OTC) systems. They do not meet Federal Clean Water Act §316(b) regulations. Numerous state agencies have jurisdiction over this issue. If they do not grant permits to operate, the nuclear plants would be shut down. See Once-through Cooling Issues section of the SanOnofreSafety.org website to learn why. NOTE: New Jersey’s Oyster Creek nuclear plant is closing due to the expense of complying with their once-through cooling rules.
Contact the WRCB, your elected officials and the Governor. Tell them:
- The WRCB should not allow Once-through Cooling exceptions or mitigation for California’s two nuclear power plants. The plants have had years to mitigate the damage to the marine life and have failed.
- The Brown Administration’s plan to shut down the OTC gas plants before shutdown of the two OTC nuclear power plants is unacceptable. This should be reversed.
- The impacts on marine mammals, sea turtles, and fish from the two nuclear plants are particularly significant, as they withdraw more water than all of the other once-through cooled plants combined.
- Neither nuclear plant is necessary for the electric power grid. We have over a 40% surplus of power in California WITHOUT nuclear and the California Independent System Operator has plans to get us through another hot summer without San Onofre. They are also making plans for a future without San Onofre.
- San Onofre has been shut down since January 2012 due to severely defective steam generators. Edison wants to restart the Unit 2 nuclear reactor in May or June 2013. Keep the OTC San Onofre nuclear power plant shut down. We don’t need it for power and it’s proven unreliable, so there is no justification to continue the severe damage to our marine life.
- We support Friends of the Earth’s Comments on Bechtel Power’s Final Phase I SONGS Report (submitted to WRCB January 27, 2013).
San Onofre Safety 
The debate appears to continue regarding San Onofre. Who ever you are, wherever you live, if you have the power to deactivate, PLEASE vote to shut it down ! Why take the chance ? Use The Golden Rule as a guide. Southern California would be dessimated and devastated if an implosion occurs. There are far more rational reasons to deactivate than there are rational arguments to restart this nuclear plant. Look at the map. North, south, east or west. At least fifty miles from that site could become unlivable ! ” Wisdom is knowing the right path to take. Integrity is taking it “. Carpe Diem.