Victory for grassroots activism and public safety: San Onofre Nuclear Plant closure announced
As of early this year, Southern California Edison's path to a re-start at San Onofre seemed as clear as any to be expected by a traditional atomic tyrannosaur. But with help from Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and Senator-to-be Ed Markey (D-MA), a powerful citizen uprising stopped it dead. So did the terrifying incompetence and greed that has defined the nuclear industry from the days of Nixon and before. San Onofre Unit One shut in the 1990s due largely to steam generator problems. In the early 2000s, Units 2 & 3 needed new steam generators of their own. In the usual grasp for more profits, Edison chose untested, unlicensed new designs. But they failed. And the whole world was watching. In the wake of Fukushima, two more leaky tsunami-zone reactors surrounded by earthquake faults were massively unwelcome. So a well-organized non-violent core of local, state and national activists and organizations rose up to stop the madness.
Source: Harvey Wasserman, "Victory for Grassroots Activism and Public Safety: San Onofre Nuclear Plant Closure Announced," Alternet, June 7, 2013 [online] http://www.alternet.org/environment/san-onofre-nuclear-plant-closure-ann... [verified 4/17/14]