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BEYOND NUCLEAR PUBLICATIONS
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Friday
Jun072013

Swan SONGS as Edison opts to permanently close San Onofre

Southern California Edison (SCE) has decided to permanently shutter its Units 2 and 3 San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS) reactors in Southern Cal! Congratulations to all who fought so hard for this great victory! Read the Edison press release. Unit 1 at San Onofre was already shut down.

"This is very good news for the people of Southern California," said [a] statement from Friends of the Earth president Erich Pica. "We have long said that these reactors are too dangerous to operate and now Edison has agreed. The people of California now have the opportunity to move away from the failed promise of dirty and dangerous nuclear power and replace it with the safe and clean energy provided by the sun and wind."

U.S. Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA), who has called upon the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to investigate safety shortcuts at San Onofre, and has called upon the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to investigate potential financial improprieties there, has hailed the permanent closure decision as a win for safety and oversight.

U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Chairwoman of the Environment and Public Works Committee which has oversight on NRC, also issued a statement. She joined Rep. Markey in calling for not only an NRC investigation, but also a U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) investigation into potential wrongdoing at San Onofre.

The AP has reported on this story. So have Bloomberg, the LA Times (including a second article), Enformable Nuclear News, Orange County Register, TV 7 San Diego, EcoWatch, CBS, and the Wall Street Journal.

The website Decommission San Onofre has touted the news. And, as EON has said: "CONGRATULATIONS TO SAN CLEMENTE GREEN, SANONOFRESAFETY.ORG, ROSE, FRIENDS OF THE EARTH, FAIREWINDS, WOMENS ENERGY MATTERS, AND ALL WHO HAVE WORKED SO LONG AND HARD FOR THIS DAY! What a great team we’ve all been!"

San Clemente Green has called for a big celebration (11 AM) and press conference (11:30 AM CA time), and invites folks to please join them down in front of the nuclear power plant at 11:00 this morning, (may have to shift to south side of plant if too crowded), with the Media-Press Conference at 11:30. For more info., Contact: Annie Eddey, Senior Account Executive, Olive PR Solutions, Inc., m. 973.449.0921, o. 619.955.5285 x102.

At 12:30 PM Eastern (9:30 AM CA time), FOE and its expert, Arnie Gundersen, Chief Engineer at Fairewinds Associates, held a live press conference on the public beach in front of the San Onofre plant.

Southern CA Edison also held an hour long press conference.

DateJune 7, 2013 | Print ArticlePrint Article |