Why all Americans across America should be very concerned about our West Coast nuke plants.

[Cleita]

They are up and down the coast from the bottom of California through the top of Washington. However, I am going to limit this post to the one I am most familiar with, El Diablo here in San Luis Obispo County. You can read about it on Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diablo_Canyon_Power_Plant) but my main emphasis is that it's built in a canyon right behind the beachfront to begin with. It's built to withstand a maximum 7.5 magnitude earthquake.



We here in California live in the land of earthquake faults and the mother of them all is the San Andreas fault. Now, there have been predictions for as long as I have been alive, and that is 70+ years, that there is up to a 10 magnitude earthquake in the wings some day for this fault to slip and slide. So when this plant was built, they conveniently whitewashed the danger that this plant is sitting within whistling distance of the Hosgri fault and yes, the San Andreas fault.

So it's really not a matter of if there is going to be a huge magnitude earthquake but when. Of course why should you guys inland and in the heartland really worry about a bunch of wine drinking, flakey Californians? Of course, we at ground zero of a huge earthquake, tsunami and nuclear melt down, are toast anyway and it has nothing to do you guys or does it? Just, look at your weather graphics every night. Note that all the wind and storm patterns come from the west and travel east, all the way to Kansas. Radioactive fall out will travel a long distance across the continent.

Now many of us have been trying to get these plants decommissioned for a very long time and we almost accomplished it when Enron came along and created the energy crisis in California that got Governor Gray Davis recalled. (Very convenient for the Republicans who did it). So the plants were powered up again. But the danger is still there and it seems it isn't enough for those of us who are sitting on this powder keg to try to get the attention of our politicians to do something about this. It is going to take the entire nation because as they say, as California goes so goes the nation. This would be a terrible way for the nation to go, IMHO.

[Pharaoh]

1. El Diablo

Aptly named.

[Cleita]

2. It was named after Diablo Canyon where it's situated, but

yes the irony is there.

[Gregorian]

3. I've spent time in Diablo Canyon. It's a magnificently complex facility.

Mind bogglingly complex. Just the construction off the plant was fettered with complexities. These things don't go over well with the public. I'm considering buying property that is just out of the photo you've posted. I have to admit that the Diablo Canyon plant is a factor that discourages me. Talk about a beautiful location though.


The renewable energy generation facilities pale in comparison to the degree of complexity and cost. I can't even remember all of the stories I've heard just regarding their cooling system. If I recall it needed some kind of redesign or rebuild early on.

[Cleita]

4. Go to Avila Beach and spend some time in each of

the bars. The workers and engineers hang around them after work. I can't tell you which one because the one my DH and I used to go to was torn down during the big oil cleanup a few years ago. But I'm sure they have found another local that they frequent. If you befriend them over a game of pool or other game, after a few beers, ask questions. They let down their guard and tell you the plant isn't that safe.

[david13]

5. Rule No. I: Don't Panic. Yet it seems that is all we are hearing

now.
"The sky is falling! We'll all be killed! It's the end of the world."
I'm not concerned. Even if I was, it would do little good.
People want more and more electricity and more and more babies to start on a life long quest of using more electricity.
I don't believe that mankind will exist on this planet 1000 years from now. So what does it matter.
Solar panels are still not particularly efficient.
And maybe never will be.
And I know there is only one way I will leave this world.
It does bother me that so very many people are willing to use someone else's natural disaster to further their agenda, one way or another.
But not much.
dc

[Cleita]

6. Excuse me but I'm quite willing to do with

cutting down of my usage of electricity a day and I'm sure most sensible people would feel the same, if that's what it takes to turn that damn thing off until alternate sources of energy can be found.

[Iggo]

14. Rule No II: But don't ignore it, either. (n/t)

[robdogbucky]

15. I don't think anyone is panicking, but some reliable information would be handy

"The sky is falling! We'll all be killed! It's the end of the world."
I'm not concerned. Even if I was, it would do little good.”

Interesting that no one I have read has said anything like that here. If so, could you provide a link?

“People want more and more electricity and more and more babies to start on a life long quest of using more electricity.”

(You forgot to hyphenate "life-long") Not everyone wants those things, but hey, put that straw man over there next to the first one up top.

“I don't believe that mankind will exist on this planet 1000 years from now. So what does it matter.”

(You forgot to insert punctuation proper to your question) Sound like a doomsayer to me. Wait, aren’t those the people that you castigated in your first line? I think we will be around here, maybe not in the numbers we see here now, but I think some vestige of a maybe more evolved humanoid will be here.

“Solar panels are still not particularly efficient.”

Oh, really? Link please? We are way behind Australia, Japan, and elsewhere that have developed and are using solar more extensively than we have.
Solar Power Growth Up 70% Worldwide
Posted on February 18, 2011 by Admin
While the United States isn’t reaching its solar power potential, new information from the European Photovoltaic Industry Association makes it clear that over the past year growth has been substantial worldwide.

http://solarenergyofillinois.com/blog/solar-power-growth-up-70-worldwide/

“And maybe never will be.”
That is just hyperbole by you and not supported by anything other than maybe where you get your paycheck from.

“And I know there is only one way I will leave this world.”
Unless you plan to take your own life, I doubt any of us know how we will leave this world. Unless, of course, you are sitting on death row and have a date already.

“It does bother me that so very many people are willing to use someone else's natural disaster to further their agenda, one way or another.”
I can tell you’re compassionate about the subject and how this disaster affects others. You’re just another bleeding heart liberal, I can tell.

“But not much.”
Figures

[Cleita]

7. kick

Because this is too important to die. Sorry. error.

[Stuart G]

8. Anything can happen, anyplace, anytime....from what I read..

the most incredible earthquake happened around 1810.
.near Kentucky...Missouri.
(New Madris Fault..1810)..
.no equipment, very few killed cause very few people were there..
How many near there even know?

[Cleita]

9. Dear Stuart.

Yes, it can, but do you have to look for tragedy? No you don't. Now this is something that can be fixed now before there is a tragedy, so why is everyone got their head in the sand?

[Tom Rinaldo]

11. When the shaking finally ended in 1810, the dirt was still life sustaining

Now do your research on the exclusion zone around Chynoble. It isn't small and it isn't safe and it's not going to be safe for a very long time to come. One of the reactors in Japan uses some plutonium with a half life of near forever. A minute partical of it lodged in a lung almost certainly would cause cancer.

Then there is that small matter of genetic mutations which radiation in large doses tends to cause in the offspring of those exposed to it. Those mutations that are not immediately fatal remain in the human gene pool. And not just the human gene pool. Nothing that happened in that quake in 1810 had a direct effect on the genes of all subsequent generations of those who lived through that event.

Massive Radiation is not your garden variety normal natural destructive event.

[eowyn_of_rohan]

10. Shit. We have been since the 1970's

I dont know what we can do other than REALLY pick up the grassroots protests against everything that is wrong in this country...

[Cleita]

12. I've been looking into local activist groups and find

the Sierra Club is really pushing for locally owned utilities, especially electric. They have a plan to solar power roofs and parking lots, which they say will meet at least 50% of needs if not more. They also are fighting PG & E renewing their license for the nuke facility in 2025. This is too far away. That plant needs to be decommissioned now.

[lonestarnot]

13. Agree!