Your Address

Thu, 28 Aug 2008

Dear Governor Schwarzenegger,

When California’s nuclear power plants were first licensed, no one—not the NRC (formerly the AEC), nor the utilities, nor the citizens, expected this state to become a repository for nuclear waste. And yet the Nuclear Regulatory Commission recently permitted two additional high-level radioactive waste-dump-sites within California’s seismically active coastal zone. The utilities need this additional waste storage in order to apply for license extensions, so that they can generate even more nuclear waste. I am writing to request your support in protecting our citizens by opposing license extensions at California’s nuclear plants.

Two critical issues involving the extended operation of a nuclear facility are safety and cost-effectiveness. Significant safety problems involving the transportation and long-term storage of radioactive waste continue to haunt the nuclear industry. Although the U.S. government has been promising the industry a solution for decades, there are currently no demonstrated methods of safely transporting and permanently containing radioactive waste. Meanwhile, the reactor sites in California are accumulating waste in earthquake active coastal zones—a precarious situation. A further safety concern is the potential for attack by terrorists. Nuclear plants are not defended against air attack, thus the waste storage pools and casks on reactor sites provide potential weapons of mass destruction for terrorists.

Another problem is the high price tag Californians pay for nuclear power. As nuclear plants age, major components begin to fail, reducing reliability and increasing safety concerns. Components can be replaced, but only at a steep cost to ratepayers. The proposed replacement of steam generators at Diablo Canyon alone is projected to cost ratepayers 700 million dollars. Studied analyses have shown that this cost is only the beginning—many other components will also need replacement.

It is imperative to safeguarding the environment and ratepayers’ wallets that state legislation be enacted to prohibit license extensions for any nuclear power plants until the following actions have been taken:

• A demonstrated solution to the problem of storing high-level radioactive waste;
• Implementation of effective defense against acts of terrorism;
• An analysis that determines cost-effectiveness for each operating facility.

I trust, that as my Governor, you will keep the safety and long-term interests of Californians a priority by prohibiting nuclear plant license extensions. I encourage you to support the development of renewable energy production to meet our future needs.

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Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely,

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