License OKd for 2nd Diablo Nuclear Unit

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission today approved a full-power operating license for the second unit at the twin-reactor Diablo Canyon nuclear plant in California.

Commissioner James K. Asselstine dissented in the 4-1 vote, saying the commission should still resolve questions about how an earthquake might hamper evacuation of the area around the plant in the event of a radioactivity-releasing accident.

Asselstine, who opposed the licensing of the plant’s first reactor a year ago, also questioned the adequacy of various studies showing that the facility could safely withstand a large quake. The plant is located on the Pacific coast near San Luis Obispo, less than three miles from an offshore earthquake fault.

“It just makes things worse to have two units operating than just one,” he said. “It’s not the licensee’s fault that those concerns have not been resolved; it’s the commission’s.”

By a similar 4-1 vote the commission denied a petition by opponents of the plant appealing a lower licensing board’s decision that the facility’s design is adequate.

Challenge Planned

Nancy Culver, a spokeswoman for Mothers for Peace, a San Luis Obispo group that has led the opposition to the plant, said it will challenge the commission’s action in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia.