{"id":2336,"date":"2011-10-25T08:00:09","date_gmt":"2011-10-25T12:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/doddcenter.wordpress.com\/?p=2336"},"modified":"2011-10-25T08:00:09","modified_gmt":"2011-10-25T12:00:09","slug":"sidestream-what-the-diablo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs-dev.lib.uconn.edu\/archives\/2011\/10\/25\/sidestream-what-the-diablo\/","title":{"rendered":"SideStream: What the Diablo?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Radioactive Times<\/p><\/div>\n

The members of California\u2019s Abalone Alliance must have thought just that as they continually resisted the proliferation of U.S. nuclear power plants\u2014the Diablo Canyon plant in San Luis Obispo County being one of them\u2014in the 1970s and \u201980s. The Diablo controversy began in 1963, with the Pacific Gas & Electric Company\u2019s proposal to build a nuclear plant in California. Anti-nuclear activists later learned that the company had not conducted sufficient seismic tests for fear of gathering information that would ultimately delay construction. What\u2019s more, the plant was to be built 2.5 miles away from an earthquake fault. PG&E made this discovery in 1962 but neglected to inform the surrounding community about this safety concern (\u201cDiablo Canyon, a history of cover-ups and resistance\u201d).<\/p>\n

Organized forms of civil disobedience\u2014leafleting, peaceful protests, etc.\u2014occurred under the direction and encouragement of the Abalone Alliance, an umbrella organization of over 60 groups, including the Los Angeles-based Alliance for Survival. In addition to promoting the Alliance for Survival\u2019s Radioactive Times<\/em>, the Abalone Alliance also distributed its own newsletter, It\u2019s About Times<\/em>. Both of these newsletters closely covered the developments at Diablo, and both also strove to spread awareness about the harmful effects of nuclear power. In fact the Times<\/em>, whose main slogan was to deliver \u201cAll the news they never print,\u201d went so far as to criticize the Reagan administration for its financial support of nuclear fusion research while cutting the budgets for energy conservation and solar energy (\u201cNuke Time for Bonzo\u201d).<\/p>\n

The opposition of the Abalone-affiliated groups was formidable. In 1981, 10,000 local citizens instituted a two-week blockade of Diablo Canyon, resulting in 1901 arrests. That year, it was also revealed that \u201cPG&E used wrong blueprints when installing key seismic supports\u201d (\u201cDiablo Canyon, a history of cover-ups and resistance\u201d). Whistleblower John Horn lamented: \u201cI wasn\u2019t exactly popular around the office then because most people thought I was just kind of nitpicking, and that I was stirring up\u00a0 trouble\u201d (\u201cDiablo Canyon, a history of cover-ups and resistance\u201d).<\/strong><\/p>\n

Despite these protests, Diablo Canyon was granted an operating license by The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission on November 2, 1984, and will maintain this license until at least November 2, 2024 (\u201cDiablo Canyon Power Plant, Unit 1\u201d). On its website, PG&E maintains that \u201cDiablo Canyon Power Plant is a safe, clean, reliable and vital resource for all Californians\u201d (\u201cWelcome to Diablo Canyon\u201d).<\/p>\n

However, the work\u2014the history<\/em>\u2014of these sometimes overlooked grassroots anti-nuclear groups is still preserved within the Alternative Press Collections at the Dodd Center today, waiting to be rediscovered by researchers and students alike.<\/p>\n

Krisela Karaja, Student Intern<\/p>\n

Resources:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cAA Safe Energy Groups.\u201d It\u2019s About Times: Abalone Alliance Newsletter<\/em> [San Francisco, CA] Mid-June\u2014July, 1980: p. 11. Print. Alternative Press Collections. Archives and Special Collections at the Thomas J. Dodd Research Center, University of
\nConnecticut Libraries.<\/p>\n

\u201cAbalone Alliance Newsletter: It\u2019s About Times.\u201d It\u2019s About Times: Abalone Alliance Newsletter<\/em> [San Francisco, CA] Mid-June\u2014July, 1980: p. 2. Print. Alternative Press Collections. Archives and Special Collections at the Thomas J. Dodd Research Center, University of Connecticut Libraries.<\/p>\n

\u201cDiablo Canyon, a history of cover-ups and resistance: Do PG&E and the NRC Really Care About Safety?\u201d [San Luis Obispo, CA] final edition, early 1984: p. 4. Print. Alternative Press Collections. Archives and Special Collections at the Thomas J. Dodd Research Center, University of Connecticut Libraries.<\/p>\n

\u201cDiablo Canyon Power Plant, Unit 1.\u201d U.S. NRC: United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission.<\/em> NRC, 24 June 2011. Web. 13 Oct. 2011.http:\/\/www.nrc.gov\/info-finder\/reactor\/diab1.html<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cNuke Time for Bonzo.\u201d Radioactive Times<\/em> [San Luis Obispo, CA] Summer 1981: p. 3. Print. Alternative Press Collections. Archives and Special Collections at the Thomas J. Dodd Research Center, University of Connecticut Libraries.<\/p>\n

\u201cWelcome to Diablo Canyon.\u201d PG&E<\/em>. Pacific Gas & Electric Company, n.d. Web. 13 Oct. 2011. <http:\/\/www.pge.com\/myhome\/edusafety\/systemworks\/dcpp\/<\/a>>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The members of California\u2019s Abalone Alliance must have thought just that as they continually resisted the proliferation of U.S. nuclear power plants\u2014the Diablo Canyon plant in San Luis Obispo County being one of them\u2014in the 1970s and \u201980s. The Diablo … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,9],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs-dev.lib.uconn.edu\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2336"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs-dev.lib.uconn.edu\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs-dev.lib.uconn.edu\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs-dev.lib.uconn.edu\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs-dev.lib.uconn.edu\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2336"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs-dev.lib.uconn.edu\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2336\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs-dev.lib.uconn.edu\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2336"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs-dev.lib.uconn.edu\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2336"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs-dev.lib.uconn.edu\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2336"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}