THE TREMORS AT DIABLO

...Geological Survey confirmed that it was capable of a 7.5 Richter-scale quake ten times the force Diablo had been designed to withstand...

...The power plant is almost astride an earthquake fault...

...What will he do about those who are determined that it shall not...

...San Luis Obispans quickly asked the NRC to stop construction at Diablo until the full ramifications could be investigated...

...The California decision will be watched closely by utilities and nuclear opponents everywhere...

...Although Carter later apologized to the "Diablo 20" and lowered their sentences, the judgment seems to have heightened the confrontation atmosphere surrounding the plant and toughened the resolve of many in San Luis Obispo...

...Diablo's fallout could also be crucial for the ambitions of Gover-, nor Brown...

...Together the two decisions gave California a de facto moratorium on new nuclear construction and prompted Brown to take a highly visible anti-nuclear position in his successful 1978 reelection campaign against Eville Younger, a pro-nuclear Republican...

...PG&E now claims it learned of the discovery much later through a magazine article...

...People in the San Luis Obispo area raised such issues as evacuation, potential sabotage, and general plant security...

...Intervenor reaction to that memo was especially strong...

...John Gofman, an authority on the health effects of radiation, to testify to a jury on the dangers of atomic energy...

...Court handling of the resulting criminal trespass trials has brought an angry reaction...

...In sum, said the staff, there was a natural reluctance to deny PG&E's license "because of the large financial loss involved and the severe impact such action would have on the nuclear industry...

...Discovery of what became known as the Hosgri fault created a sensation, especially when the U.S...

...And then, how much of that can they turn around and force the public to pay for...

...According to internal documents made public through the intervenors, NRC researchers wrote at least one 1976 memo in which politics clearly outweighed engineering: "The impact of potential denial for operation" at Diablo, they said, had to be weighed against "the viability of continued operation of plants at other sites...

...The Commission must determine how much of Diablo's final price tag should be '[The] fallout could be crucial for the ambitions of Governor Brown' charged to ratepayers and how much should come out of PG&E's profits as a penalty for company mismanagement...

...Diablo's unique location is what has made it so crucial...

...Other evidence had already surfaced that PG&E's own consultants knew as early as 1967 that the off-shore area was prime earthquake territory and that further exploration was needed...

...In recent months, Diablo has become the focus for a wide range of key national regulatory questions...

...But Brown may now face some ticklish decisions about Diablo...

...But in 1971 there came a bombshell from an unexpected source — Shell Oil Co...

...San Luis Obispo judges have been handing down long jail terms and heavy fines, despite the fact that no violence or property damage has occurred...

...The tremors at Diablo A nuclear power plant near an earthquake fault Harvey Wasserman In the coastal hills of central California, fifteen miles south of San Luis Obispo, stands a landmark in the national energy debate — the bitterly contested Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant...

...Two Diablo units, totaling 2,212 megawatts, were to be finished in the mid-1970s at a cost of $350 million...

...it led to the legislative rejection of a bill designed to allow construction of another nuclear facility at Sundesert, near the Arizona border...

...Too many people have worked too long and too hard against that thing," says Raye Fleming, "and too many people are getting seriously worried...

...But the judge ruled discussion of the issue "irrelevant" to the trespass charge, and the jury found the defendants guilty...

...More than 500 demonstrators have already been arrested for Diablo "occupations" organized by the Abalone Alliance, a California coalition of nuclear opponents...

...Some of the jurors wept openly as the verdict was read, and the foreman later asked for leniency in sentencing...

...Will he be content to let the plant start generating power...

...But intervenor attorney David Fleischaker says "the bulk of the effort has gone into explaining away the potential effects of the earthquake" rather than building to withstand one...

...But Judge Carter was not moved...

...He handed down sentences of ninety days in jail and $400 fines...

...Fleischaker's charges are buttressed by another leaked document, a July 1978 staff letter to NRC Chairman Joseph Hendrie admitting that the plant retrofits could not meet the same standards expected from a project originally designed to withstand a shock of the magnitude possible at the Hosgri location...

...Among other things, the NRC suggested a unique "interim" license that would lessen that impact by paving the way for the plant to open on a "temporary" basis...

...Indeed, throwing the switch at Diablo could hand the California Public Utilities Commission its toughest case in years...

...But PG&E ran into delays and cost overruns of the type that have plagued the nuclear industry everywhere...

...The vote was considered a turning point...

...But when Ralph Vrana, a geologist from nearby California Polytechnic Institute, made just such a suggestion public, he found himself without a job...

...The Abalone Alliance had hoped to "put nuclear power on trial" by telling the jury why the twenty occupiers on trial had felt compelled to break the law in order to stop Diablo...

...The site was selected by Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E), the nation's second-largest private utility, in the fall of 1966...

...In the spring of 1978, voters in conservative Kern County overwhelmingly rejected a major reactor complex proposed for the town of Wasco...

...the question of who is to pay for the more than $1 billion in cost overruns at Diablo could have a major impact on the kind of risks utilities will be willing to take to build future atomic power plants...

...The work went on, and Harvey Wasserman, a journalist and anti-nuclear activist, is a frequent contributor to The Progressive...

...I just can't imagine how people will react if they throw that switch...

...And it has put California's ambitious Governor Jerry Brown on the hot seat with the burgeoning grass-roots anti-nuclear movement, a force that may have to be reckoned with in the 1980 Presidential campaign...

...Diablo has acquired additional importance because there is strong evidence that the NRC staff may have "fudged" opinions on the case for political reasons...

...Two Shell geologists prospecting off the coast discovered a major earthquake fault just 2.5 miles from the Diablo site...

...Normal penalties for criminal trespass are a couple of days in jail and minimal fines...

...Seismic questions have become key factors in reactor litigation on both coasts, and the Diablo decision may be considered a precedent-setter...

...Faulty welds and inferior fuel rods delivered to the site also were matters of concern...

...Diablo raises some really fundamental questions," says Raye Fleming, one of the plant's outspoken opponents, "like how close can they build to an earthquake fault and then blackmail the public into accepting it because of money spent...

...In 1974, the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board (ASLB) refused that request, but assured inter-venors that the hundreds of millions of dollars PG&E was pouring into the site would have "no bearing" on whether the reactors should be licensed...

...The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) was not informed until 1973...

...If they can license this one," says one intervener, "then they can license anything...

...Meanwhile, PG&E has sunk nearly five times the original cost estimate into the plant...

...The discovery of the earthquake fault did prompt PG&E to "retrofit" the reactors for additional strength...

...Five years later the battle still rages, and the question of Diablo's operating license has taken on national proportions...

...In mid-December, Municipal Judge Robert Carter also refused to allow Dr...