The probability of a Fukushima-like disaster at Diablo Canyon is small — but not zero | Opinion
No more money for Diablo
The Tribune recently published a story about Gov. Gavin Newsom’s request for additional Diablo Canyon closure extension funding. I’m appalled that any money at all was ever allocated to this endeavor.
Radiation from the Fukushima disaster in Japan produced an exclusion zone deemed unsafe for human life that was approximately 311 square miles. Radiation spreads as a cone-like plume; the direction, length and width of the plume is largely determined by prevailing winds. With the usual moderate west-to-southwest onshore winds, a radiation plume 311 square miles in area would be 100 miles long, expanding to 62 miles in width.
This would mean that, in the event of a Diablo Canyon disaster, all inland cities located 100 miles or less from Avila Beach could potentially become uninhabitable for a period of at least 30 to 60 years. A strong northerly wind would mean a longer and narrower plume moving south, potentially blanketing all coastal areas from Avila to San Diego.
Yes, the probability of a Fukushima-like disaster at Diablo Canyon is very small. But that probability is not zero.
As Californians, we must take critical stock of our energy consumption, learn to efficiently use the energy we do consume and move as rapidly as possible to safe and environmentally sustainable energy sources.
A scientific paper, “Worldwide health effects of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident,” includes the chilling results of a computer simulation of a like disaster at Diablo Canyon. If you think it’s a good idea to continue to operate a 39-year-old nuclear plant built on known earthquake faults, please read it.
Jeff Rininger
Cayucos
Opinion
Bretón got it wrong
What’s liberal about demanding adherence to national and international law?
Under those laws, people who set foot on U.S. soil seeking asylum from persecution, murder, assault and catastrophe have the right to do so without interference. Denying that right due to an arbitrary number of applicants (President Joe Biden’s number being 2,500) is a violation of those laws.
Opinion writer Marcos Bretón cites “political reality,” meanwhile ignoring the legal one. He mentions “asylum seekers ... without a visa or other authorized documentation” — things not required under existing laws. He claims that comparing Biden’s executive order to Donald Trump’s actions is “preposterous.”
This is false. Biden is using the same section of the Immigration and Nationality Act that Trump used in his Muslim and African travel bans. Bretón also says he’s “judging by the responses of liberals on social media” that “any enforcement measures … are always wrong, cruel or bad.” Perhaps he would be better advised to forgo the social media cesspool and consider the statements of organizations like Refugees International, Amnesty International, Save the Children U.S., the ACLU and the Southern Poverty Law Center.
No comprehensive congressional immigration reform has been enacted for decades, but capitulating to intransigence and issuing illegal orders is just plain wrong.
David Broadwater
Atascadero
Mexico’s inspiring election
“What to Know About Claudia Sheinbaum, Mexico’s Newly Elected President,” (sanluisobispo.com, June 3)
It was gratifying to watch as Mexico elected their first female president. It seems sad that our two-party system can only offer the oldest, whitest, male-est candidates.
My hope is that we are at a tipping point where American consciousness can look out and observe “us” and not “the other.”
Ron Tilley
San Luis Obispo
Fixing the court
“Watchdog: Of $5M in gifts to all Supreme Court justices, Thomas took $4M,” (sanluisobispo.com, June 6)
It would be nice if the Supreme Court could be repopulated with justices with better ethics. However, the real problem is deeper: The court is being permitted to resolve political questions that it is unqualified to decide.
For example, the Supreme Court has decided that parts of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 are unconstitutional. However, there is nothing in the Constitution that gives the Supreme Court the exclusive right to determine which laws are constitutional. Congress could determine that the Act is constitutional and pass legislation that would revive it. It could also pass national legislation on other current political issues, like access to abortion and gun control.
The key to fixing the court is electing a Congress that is courageous enough to address the important political issues of the day — a Congress which would not ask or permit the court to resolve those issues.
Christopher Toews
San Luis Obispo
Democracy not autocracy
“GOP leaders: Trump was prosecuted for his “personal lifestyle”,” (sanluisobispo.com, June 5)
Wake up, GOP. Despite numerous claims that the current presidential administration is attacking President Donald Trump, it is his personal actions that have resulted in 34 felonies. The convictions and pending trials have created a huge problem for the GOP and its leaders as they continue to convince voters that U.S. Justice System is corrupt when it is not.
They mimic his claims that he is a persecuted victim of the Democratic Party. His followers, including SLO County’s own Republican Party, embrace this position because the alternative is to admit that their party has knowingly supported a felon to lead this country. Do you realize that the peace and stability of this nation relies on supporting Democracy, not autocracy?
Trump has promised to be a dictator on day one, to imprison those who have prosecuted and betrayed him, including military generals, the current president and members of the free press. He tried to rig the 2020 presidential election, and, in 2021, incited an insurrection and tried to rig the electoral vote by installing fake electors.
How much more insane behavior are you willing to embrace?
Brent Jorgensen
Pismo Beach
Opinion
Nasty, brutish and short
“GOP leaders: Trump was prosecuted for his “personal lifestyle”,” (sanluisobispo.com, June 5)
America’s electorate seems to have degenerated into an unwitting follower of Thomas Hobbes, slavishly believing Hobbes’ proclamation that life is “nasty, brutish and short.” This has unfortunately led them to seek out the most nasty and brutish individual, who also has the shortest attention span.
Donald Trump therefore owes Hobbes a huge vote of thanks. Too bad he’s never heard of him.
Gene Strohl
San Luis Obispo
