Posted on Sun, Jan. 08, 2006

By David Sneed The Tribune

Every 18 months, operators at Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant shut down one of the plant's two reactors and replace a third of its fuel.

The highly radioactive spent fuel removed from the reactors is among the world's most toxic substances. Used fuel assemblies must sit in storage pools for at least five years before they can safely be loaded into dry storage casks.

County supervisor Shirley Bianchi believes that a proposed national underground storage facility for permanent disposal of such high-level nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain in Nevada will never open.

She wants to send a letter on behalf of the county to state officials asking them to evaluate safety questions surrounding the storage of such waste at Diablo Canyon for the foreseeable future.

The Board of Supervisors will discuss sending such a letter when it meets Tuesday. The item is scheduled to be heard at 2 p.m., after the board's lunch break.

"We really do need to evaluate the long-term implications," Bianchi said. "In order to deal with it on a rational level, we need to evaluate what to do with it."

For example, Bianchi said she wants more information about how the safety of Diablo Canyon's dry casks will be evaluated after 40 years. Federal officials license dry-cask facilities for 20 years, and utilities can renew them for an additional 20 years.

Bianchi has drafted a two-page letter for the board to consider. It supports the state Energy Commission's recommendation to "evaluate the long-term implications associated with the continuing accumulation of spent fuel at California's operating nuclear power plants, including a case-by-case evaluation of public safety and ratepayer costs of on-site storage of spent fuel versus transporting spent fuel off-site for interim storage."

The letter contains quotes from U.S. Sen. Robert Bennett, R-Utah, and Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada, stating opposition to both the Yucca Mountain facility and a temporary storage facility on the Goshute Indian reservation in Utah. It also has comments from two Yucca Mountain consultants stating that the proposed dump there "is in deep trouble" and unlikely to ever open.

Diablo Canyon owner Pacific Gas and Electric Co. disagrees. It points out that taxpayers have spent hundreds of millions of dollars on studying and designing the Yucca Mountain facility.

"PG&E believes, as many others do, that Yucca Mountain can be built safely and will be," said Jeff Lewis, Diablo Canyon spokesman. "In the meantime, we are building a safe and secure interim storage facility."

Several months ago, nuclear watchdog groups, including the San Luis Obispo Mothers for Peace, asked supervisors to send a letter to the state about the nuclear waste issue.

"We think the county supervisors and the Energy Commission are responsible for protecting our health and safety, and this is one way they can do this," said Morgan Rafferty, a Mothers for Peace activist.

While nuclear power critics believe storing used fuel in dry casks is safer than keeping it in the pools, they want the dry casks spread out over several locations, among other steps to be taken, to make the fuel less of an appealing target for terrorist attacks.

To read a county request of the state to evaluate long-term effects of storing nuclear waste at Diablo Canyon

To see a staff report on steam generator replacement project at Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant