letterhead
September 30, 2019

Recently acquired documents about the San Onofre nuclear waste site exposes another dirty little secret...

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) Region IV Senior Inspector who said it was " impossible " to inspect the Holtec thin-wall canisters for defects (scratches and gouges), was ignored and overruled by NRC management. This reckless ruling has allowed Edison and Holtec to continue damaging thin canisters while lowering the highly radioactive waste into partially buried silos on the beach. Once cracks start in these canisters, cracks can grow through the wall in 16 years!

Lee Brookhart,  (NRC Region IV, Division of Nuclear Materials Safety, Fuel Cycle and Decommissioning Branch, Senior ISFSI Inspector)  said. “... Essentially the change (in methodology) is adding an alternative to the code to not have to do inspections and repair these new defects.”
In other words,

instead of actually fixing the problem they simply changed the rules to make gouged canisters acceptable.





NOT ONLY THAT, but...
the independent federal agency, Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board (NWTRB)
in a recent report concludes that ...

most dry storage nuclear waste containers will need replacing before they can be moved to another location.



In the final page of the report under Recommendation 3...

"The Board recommends that, for planning purposes, DOE should allow for a minimum of a decade to develop new cask and canister designs for SNF (spent nuclear fuel) and HLW (high level waste) storage and transportation, or DOE should conduct its own detailed evaluation of the time needed to complete the design, licensing, fabrication, and testing of new casks and canisters." 


City Council Meeting ...
Tuesday, 10/1 at 6PM
100 Avenida Presidio

Former Mayor, Lori Donchak, to be honored for 12 years of service on the city council.
We'll be sure she gets recognition for consistently standing with us on nuclear issues and fighting the toll road.

We will also be asking the current city council to consider our draft resolution to demand higher safety standards at San Onofre.

Come join us if you can for these first items on the agenda. Just attending will speak volumes and it shouldn't take long at all.

We want to participate in this year's National Grassroots Activist Summit on Radioactive Waste
in New Mexico and could use some help getting there. Your donations will allow us to develop a local strategy in conjunction with several other leaders of similar groups
from all across the country.

Thank you!