Sierra Club sues over security risks

0 Comments | Oakland Tribune, Mar 17, 2004 | by Associated Press

SAN FRANCISCO -- The Sierra Club has sued the Bush administration, alleging that the federal government has failed to address security risks at the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant off the Central California coast.

The lawsuit charges that the Bush administration and the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission have refused to hold hearings on terrorism risks posed by a proposed storage facility for radioactive waste.

"The terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, caused petitioners to be gravely concerned that the siting and design of the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant makes it a vulnerable and attractive target for acts of malice or insanity," according to the lawsuit.

The Sierra Club, along with the activist group San Luis Obispo Mothers for Peace, filed the complaint Monday in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco.

Built in 1985, the Diablo Canyon facility is owned and operated by Pacific Gas & Electric Co., which has applied for a license to store spent radioactive fuel in dry casks onsite because spent-fuel pools will be full within three years.

Victor Dricks, a spokesman for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, said the agency hasn't seen the lawsuit and wouldn't comment on it directly. But the agency has said previously that a licensing hearing isn't the appropriate venue for addressing national security concerns, he said.

Dricks said that the agency believes the Diablo Canyon facility is secure, adding that it has passed tests involving a mock attack force attempting to invade the facility.

"Pacific Gas & Electric is meeting the agency's requirements for the physical protection of that site, and they have demonstrated their ability to do so through our numerous inspections," Dricks said.

Some experts have complained that the Bush administration hasn't done enough to ensure security at the nation's nuclear plants since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

California Senators Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer and other state and local officials have criticized the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for not holding hearings on vulnerabilities at the Diablo Canyon facility, and have urged the agency to do so.

Gordon Thompson, executive director of the Institute for Resource and Security Studies, said that "while the specific points of vulnerability should remain confidential, public debate on this issue is essential."