Is Diablo Canyon destined for disaster? Well, according to a story by Suzanne Rust of California Watch published by the San Francisco Chronicle, that all depends on which government agency you believe.
According to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (and the utility that owns the plant, Pacific Gas & Electric Co.), the plant is safe. Totally safe. So safe, the NRC insists, that further studies are unwarranted. (more…)
Inspectors from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission found a laundry-list of safety problems at Pacific Gas & Electric’s controversial Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant, including several seemingly serious issues, according to a story by John Upton in The Bay Citizen.
According to the inspection and evaluation, ordered after the Fukushima Daiichi disaster in Japan, Diablo Canyon’s fire station is seismically unsound, parked cars block access to critical emergency control valves, a new security fence blocks access to an emergency coolant pool, and plant operators skipped required training exercises. Despite the findings, the NRC declared the plant safe, along with all 103 other nuclear plants recently inspected. (more…)
With an emergency back up cooling system inadvertently disabled, Pacific Gas & Electric’s Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant was in a highly vulnerable condition for a year and a half, reports David R. Baker of the San Francisco Chronicle. In the event of an accident, the plant would have been unable to pump water to cool nuclear fuel rods — much the same problem as has struck the Fukushima Daiichi plant in Japan due to the earthquake and tsunami there.
The fault was corrected only after it was exposed during a drill. The incident, along with 13 others, is included in a report released Thursday by the Union of Concerned Scientists, which reviewed plant inspections by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The report lauds the NRC for catching and correcting problems, but criticizes the agency for failing to examine and fix the underlying systems or procedures that contributed to specific problems. (more…)
