Thanks to the Malibu Democratic Club for sponsoring the meeting on Saturday regarding “Are We Ready for a Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant Meltdown?”
I was thrilled to see a news reporter from The Malibu Times covering this important meeting.
I saw quite a few people that I met 30 years ago protesting the opening of Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant.
In the early ’80s, I went to at least six Water Board hearing’s regarding the licensing of Diablo because of my concern about the radioactivity to be released into the air as part of their operating procedures. I was also arrested four times for non-violent protesting at Diablo with thousands of others.
After everything we did to stop the licensing, we were told that because over $4 billion was spent to build the plant — it had to open.
Once Diablo opened we were assured that the government would monitor and report the radiation levels and conduct a yearly environmental impact report.
President Reagan stopped the program because “we cannot afford it.” (The same government has spent $6 trillion dollars in Iraq and Afghanistan.)
In the meeting on Saturday, I met a young woman from Japan concerned about the children still living in contaminated areas of Japan.
Because of my concern about the reactor accident at Fukushima, I read about Yauemon Sato, the ninth generation chief of a sake brewery operating in Japan since 1790 (and president of electrical power company Aizu Denryoku) who likens the crippled reactors at the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant to “caldrons of hell.” Three hundred tons of radioactive contaminated water are flushing into the ocean every day for the past four years and continue to do so.
Why isn’t Fukushima considered an international crisis? Suppose Diablo (on several earthquake faults) has a similar accident?
I am annoyed with people who say we are not affected by Fukushima; why should we care?
I was also disappointed to not see any surfers, lifeguards or Malibu kids at the meeting.
Is anyone curious to monitor the radiation in our waters as an investment for future generations? So many people need the science to prove something is wrong before they think they might be affected.
Valerie Sklarevsky