Alliance representatives ejected from Post-Fukushima seismic workshop!

[Cleita]

http://a4nr.org/?p=2587&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+A4nrorg+%28a4nr.org%29

Just got this in my email:

Only one week after the second anniversary of the tragic nuclear disaster at Fukushima, A4NR attorney John Geesman, consulting seismologist Dr. Douglas Hamilton, and A4NR outreach coordinator David Weisman were asked to leave the Ground Motion Characterization workshop for the nuclear power plants in the western United States. These (ratepayer funded) workshops are an integral part of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s post-Fukushima requirements to update seismic hazards at nuclear reactors. Read our press release:

More at link.

[bananas]

1. "the other utility co-sponsors had insisted that attendence be restricted"

I wonder who the other co-sponsors are?

[FBaggins]

2. Two other utilities.

Identified as SCE and APS.

[bananas]

3. APS? They're in Arizona.

SCE is Southern California Edison.
What was APS doing there?
And what are they trying to hide?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arizona_Public_Service
http://www.aps.com/

[FBaggins]

4. SONGS wasn't the only topic

There were three plants involved in the workshop. Palo Verde NGS is in Arizona

And what are they trying to hide?

They don't have to be "hiding" anything to want to avoid disruption.

Likely, A4NR wanted Dr. Hamilton to debate ground motion models that were used and the announcement for the meeting specifically said that they would not be discussing or defending those models at that hearing - but at a later one instead.

[Cleita]

5. Was that a reason not to let them participate?

I got the impression they were escorted out before anything started, not because they disrupted anything.

[FBaggins]

6. They obviously thought so.

If you have a meeting with 80 invited participants and someone else shows up (with lawyer) who has a history with prior meetings... wouldn't that be a reason?

The requirement for this meeting (unlike what their attorney claims) is that proceedings be publicly available. That could be by transcript or audio/video recording. It wasn't a meeting for public comment or debate (as was laid out in the announcement - again unlike what their attorney claimed). If they have no defined participatory role, then making such records available is all that's necessary. They obviously wanted to be there to put their position forward, and this wasn't the forum for it.

I got the impression they were escorted out before anything started

If they got in at all. It's hard to tell, as their press release is filled with weasel words (such as the nonsense about it being ratepayer funded.

[Cleita]

7. Considering they are activists, not journalists, maybe their

press releases aren't up to your high standards. However, they have done an excellent job of investigating, gathering information and exposing the real weasels in this problem, the energy giants of Duke Energy and P. G. & E.. I have been following the work they have done about El Diablo for a couple of years now.

I take it you are pro-nuclear energy?

[FBaggins]

8. It isn't really an issue of "standards"

It's that they're being intentionally deceptive in their wording for propaganda purposes.

I take it you are pro-nuclear energy?

In most cases, yes.

[Cleita]

9. Well, if you think nuke plants are the way to go then

I see why you would consider them subversive. I myself live under the volcano, but instead of magma, we are talking radiation fall out here, and the first big earthquake and tsunami we have, it's all over with. These activists are trying to prevent it. It doesn't just mean that our community here on the coast of California will become a toxic wasteland but fallout from it will affect the ocean and a good part of the USA.

Because these energy companies are trying to influence any way of shutting down these nuke plants, I really feel that the activists are doing hero's work. If you want to call it propaganda, it's your prerogative.