Nuclear Waste Risks & Best Options - Donna Gilmore
Channel: eon3
Date: 2015-06-08

On Saturday, May 9, 2015, the Democratic Club of Malibu, CA held a conference titled "Are We Ready for a Diablo Canyon Meltdown?"  

Organized by Club President Ann Doneen, and event planner Myla Reson, the well-attended event was emceed by author Harvey Wasserman.  

It featured presentations by several speakers on the very real risks posed to Malibu by the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant, located on the California coast north of Malibu on 13 intersecting earthquake faults, in a tsunami zone, and run by PG&E, a utility facing multiple indictments for safety violations. Conference participants learned about the similarities between the situation at Diablo Canyon and Japan's on-going Fukushima nuclear disaster. They also learned about California's unsafe nuclear waste storage canisters, which are much worse than Japan's dry storage casks.

This is one of a series of excerpts from the conference, a presentation by Donna Gilmore, founder of SanOnofreSafety.org. Gilmore explains why the current thin (1/2" to 5/8") steel nuclear waste dry canisters may leak within 20 to 30 years after loaded with spent nuclear fuel. She has recommendations for better storage, such as the almost 20" thick metal casks made by Siempelkamp. 

Almost 2000 of the thin steel canisters are loaded with spent nuclear fuel throughout the U.S. and at all California nuclear power plants (Diablo Canyon, San Onofre, Humboldt Bay, and Rancho Seco). San Onofre has been loading these thin canisters with spent fuel since 2003 (see slide 6)., yet Southern California Edison plans to spend over a billion dollars for more of this inferior technology.  https://sanonofresafety.files.wordpress.com/2014/10/dry-cask-storagedgilmore2015may09.pdf

These thin canisters cannot be inspected or repaired and millions of curies of radiation will be released from even a microscopic crack, according to Dr. Kris Singh, CEO and president of Holtec, the manufacturer of the Holtec thin canisters. See the full video of his statements here.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=euaFZt0YPi4&feature=youtu.be

Link to handouts referenced in Gilmore's presentation, "Reasons to buy thick nuclear waste dry storage casks" and "Myths about nuclear waste dry storage"   https://sanonofresafety.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/reasonstobuythickcasks2015-04-16.pdf

Donna Gilmore is leading the battle for a safer dry storage system at San Onofre.  Learn the status and how you can help to change the way waste is stored in California and the rest of the U.S.: 
Go to SanOnofreSafety.org.

For more info on this issue:
MothersForPeace.org
FoE.org
NoNukesCA.net
MalibuDemocraticClub.org