Calif. panel weighs nuclear safety after quake

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – State lawmakers raised sharp questions on Monday about whether California's nuclear power plants can withstand a major earthquake and tsunami like the ones that have left Japan scrambling to control radiation coming from some of its reactors.

Even before officials from the state's nuclear plant operators laid out their extensive preparations and safety plans to protect the public in the event of a temblor, Sen. Sam Blakeslee asked why Pacific Gas and Electric Co. located its Diablo Canyon plant near not one but two fault lines, including the recently identified Shoreline fault off the coast.

"I'm a little concerned that PG&E ... failed to notice a fault of this size," said Blakeslee, a Republican from San Luis Obispo who has previously pushed for new seismic reviews of the plants.

Outside the hearing room, Daniel Hirsch, a lecturer in nuclear policy at University of California, Santa Cruz, noted California's reactors are in one of the most seismically active areas of the world after Japan. "What's going on in Japan could happen here," he said.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110321/ap_on_re_us/us_california_earthquake_threat

Should ask the residents of Burlingame about energy utilities' safety records, and what can be expected. (Murphy's law should also be consulted.)

They have experienced the wisdom of those utilities' companies first hand. (for those not in California, Burlingame experienced a major disaster when a natural gas pipeline, slated for replacement, but somehow overlooked, was set off, and destroyed a neighborhood.)