Unanimous vote gets “boos” from two Commissioners!
In a vote tinged with boos, and what one Commissioner described as “fear and loathing” the California Coastal Commission voted “yes” today to a Southern California Edison plan for the beachfront nuclear waste dump at San Onofre State Beach Park. the site of the failed San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS).
The failed San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS) is nestled like a pair of cancerous pearls set between the Santa Ana Mountains and the Pacific Ocean.Dateline, San Diego, July 16, 2020 — Today the California Coastal Commission voted unanimously in favor of an Inspection and Maintenance Plan (IMP) to proceed at the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS).. The vote lets Southern California Edison move forward with the plan, to the dismay of both the Commission and the public.
The Commission’s unanimous “Yes” vote was granted reluctantly. According to Charles Langley, Executive Director of Public Watchdogs, “The Commissioners tendered their yes vote between thumb and forefinger because it was truly loathsome.” Commissioner Mike Wilson voted a “Boo Yes,” which was echoed by Chair Steve Padilla, who said “This vote is the outcome of the utter failure of the Federal Government.” According to Padilla, “We don’t need to look any further than Fukushima, Chernobyl, or TheeMile Island.”
Coastal Commissioner Sara Aminzadeh, who is also the executive director of the California Coastkeeper Alliance said “The public has a great level of fear and loathing over this process.” According to Aminzadeh, “Commissioner Padilla said the plan is ‘probably adequate.’ Probably adequate is not the standard that we all want to meet.”
“By holding their nose and voting yes, the Commisioners made themselves victims of their own circumstance,” said Public Watchdogs Board member, Nina Babiarz. “The circumstance we have now is a deeply flawed inspection and maintenance plan for SONGS has been approved. While the Coastal Commission doesn’t have jurisdiction over much at San Onofre, today they blew the rare chance they did have to get it right.”
Members of the public are justifiably concerned that the destruction of the spent fuel pools will make it impossible for Southern California Edison to mitigate a disaster at the beachfront nuclear waste dump should something go wrong.
During the hearing, Public Watchdogs presented compelling evidence showing that if the partially underground canisters become partially flooded by rain, sea-level rise or a tsunami, that the cooling system for the sizzling hot radioactive waste will fail.
According to Public Watchdogs subject matter expert and engineer, Paul Blanch, who testified prior to the vote, “It’s not if an accident occurs, but when an accident occurs.” Surprisingly, the concrete structure that holds the waste canisters is only guaranteed from defects in workmanship for only ten years. The canisters that contain the deadly nuclear waste are only guaranteed for 25-years (Get warranty here).
According to the authoritative Scientific American, the nuclear waste at SONGS is deadly for a quarter million years (SOURCE),
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CBS News, David Gotfredson reporting
