Residents Rethink a Nuclear Neighbor

Source: Wall Street Journal

SAN CLEMENTE, Calif.—For three decades, the reactor domes of the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station have been fixtures on the coastline here less than five miles south of this surfer's paradise.

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Federal and plant officials have taken notice of the growing unrest, sending emissaries to speak at community meetings and city council sessions.

On Friday, Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chairman Gregory Jaczko will visit the plant with U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D., Calif.) to learn more about the pipe-degradation issue, NRC officials said. Afterward, Mr. Jaczko is scheduled to meet with reporters and then privately with local activists pressing for the plant to close permanently.

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In Irvine, a city of 220,000 people 22 miles north of the plant, City Council member Larry Agran was met with applause last week when he issued a call to decommission San Onofre at a packed City Council meeting. He said he plans to ask the council to vote on a resolution to close it and that he wants the region to look to alternate sources of energy, like solar power.

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Read more: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304072004577323712653923638.html