Mothers for Peace, a local group that filed and won a lawsuit against the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in June, pitched another motion on Sept. 18, demanding that the federal body abide by the previous ruling. That decision, issued by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals on June 2, ordered the NRC to conduct further reports regarding the potential impact of a terrorist attack on the dry-cask storage units at Diablo Canyon.
The issue is whether or not the Ninth's decision also invalidates power giant PG&E's NRC-granted license to construct the casks an operation now already well underway. The NRC argued that parts of the Ninth's ruling remain pragmatically unenforceable. PG&E recently announced its intent to take the matter to the Supreme Court. It has until the end of the month to file the appeal.
In the meantime, Mothers for Peace wants construction of the casks immediately halted.
"The Ninth Circuit's decision is now the law of the land," Mothers for Peace attorney Diane Curran said. "The NRC no longer has any choice but to obey the court's mandate and declare that PG&E's license is invalid."
PG&E spokesman Jeff Lewis maintained the validity of the company's permits and the urgent necessity to build a dry-cask solution to the plant's nearly brimming storage pools.
In other local energy news, the Morro Bay Power Plant recently got whipped through the Wall Street turbine like fish larvae caught in a cooling suction. LS Power, which recently purchased the aging facility from Duke Energy, joined with Dynegy Inc. Friday in a $2 billion buyout.
Hours after the announcement, Dynegy CEO Bruce Williamson publicly announced that more deals might sit on the horizon including the potential acquisition of Dynegy by other power interests.
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