3 Million pounds of deadly nuclear waste are stranded in temporary storage canisters in a highly vulnerable configuration at San Onofre, with no end in sight. Irvine Mayor Larry Agran is taking the lead in protecting southern California by developing a local plan to better secure the waste while it remains there.
Author Archives: Sarah Mosko
Posted inCommunity Opinion
Mosko: Garden Grove Was a Warning, San Onofre Is the Test
The possible explosion of a Garden Grove tank containing a chemical listed as an eye, skin and mucous membrane irritant triggered evacuation of ~50,000 residents. This is a stark reminder of the importance of insuring the highly radioactive nuclear waste stranded at San Onofre is stored in the safest possible configuration.
Posted inCommunity Opinion
Mosko: Thin Plastic Produce Bags Get a Needed Facelift
Starting in January, thin plastic “produce” bags provided by grocery stores throughout the county and state can no longer be made of conventional plastics. Only plastic bags certified for industrial composting, or recycled paper bags, will be offered for bagging loose items or to prevent one item from contaminating others.
Posted inCommunity Opinion
Mosko: Home and Business Owners Alert – Property is Not Insured Against Radiological Accidents at San Onofre
There is a growing consensus among nuclear safety experts and activists that San Onofre’s aging nuclear waste storage canisters and their beachside location present a growing risk to the public of radiological accidents. Home and business owners should be aware that property insurance policies do not cover any radiological incidents.
Posted inCommunity Opinion
Mosko: Think & Act Globally to Solve Climate Crisis
The “slow boil” hypothesis can no longer explain humanity’s failure to tackle the climate crisis. All parts of the globe are experiencing record-shattering climate extremes, and Orange County is no exception. The fundamental reasons for our collective failure are unbridled corporate capitalism and the failure of governments to act in the public’s interest.
Posted inCommunity Opinion
Mosko: More Nuclear is No Solution to Climate Crisis
No one has figured out how to safely dispose of deadly nuclear waste. Yet, to combat the climate crisis, the United States and the world propose to create more of it by extending the life of existing nuclear power plants and building new ones. Has the world learned nothing from the catastrophes of Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, and Fukushima?
Posted inCommunity Opinion
Mosko: Public Safety at Stake in Debate Over Nuclear Waste Storage at San Onofre
Highly radioactive spent nuclear fuel will be stored onsite at San Onofre for the foreseeable future. SoCal Edison will save untold $millions should the public be swayed to trust in Edison’s promises that their thin-walled dry canister storage system can’t fail and that a national repository will magically materialize in time to save the day. Safe nuclear waste storage activists want the waste moved now to more robust, thick-walled casks with safety features lacking in thin-walled canisters.
Posted inCommunity Opinion
Mosko: San Onofre Safety, Public Deserves The Facts, Not Promises
Nuclear safety advocates are right to question SoCal Edison’s decision to remove the cooling pools at the shuttered San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station. Edison should follow the example of the Swiss who have chosen to make safety the top priority in designing storage of highly radioactive spent nuclear fuel.
Posted inCommunity Opinion
Mosko: Dust-ups Continue over Radioactive Waste Storage at San Onofre
In giving Southern California Edison permission to proceed with removing the cooling pools at SONGS, the California Coastal Commission is green-lighting eliminating the only means whereby the highly radioactive contents of a failing thin-walled dry storage canister could be repackaged into another canister. Local nuclear safety advocates are outraged.
Posted inCommunity Opinion
Mosko: On Pandemics, Pork Chops and Chicken Nuggets
A hard to swallow truth: Factory farms are America’s cultural equivalent of China’s wet markets…..Pandemics are a price we pay for eating animals and otherwise using them.
