This half hour interview of Paul Blanch on Facing the Future Television explains why a radioactive release at the failed beachfront nuclear waste dump at San Onofre is, in his words, “inevitable.” The current location contains 3.6 million pounds of eternally deadly radioactive “spent” nuclear fuel, stored 108 feet from the beach in a tsunami flood zone, on top of earthquake faults, in temporary canisters that are only guaranteed to last 25 years.**
At issue is the fact that the NRC has failed to conduct a site-specific risk analysis of any kind, claiming that the possibility of an radiation release at any nuclear waste dump in the USA is “non-credible.” Although it isn’t mentioned in this brief interview, the NRC stands completely alone in its opinion that a nuclear accident at San Onofre is “non-credible.” The facts are that the American insurance industry has assessed nuclear risks, and not a single corporation in the USA offers insurance to protect you from the damages caused by a nuclear disaster.
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* It is impossible for Americans to purchase insurance against a radiation disaster because the risk is too high. For more information visit the Insurance Information Institute.
** Southern California Edison, the owner of the canisters, claims the “design life” is sixty years.
It’s insane that environmentally lethal material which needs to be stored safely for a million years is being disposed of in ways that will be safe-ish for around 30 years at the most. Civil nuclear power is an extinction event. I wish I didn’t believe that humanity has already sleep-walked off the cliff edge but we just haven’t hit the ground yet.