From bziegler at toxco.net Wed Sep 20 09:35:33 2023 From: bziegler at toxco.net (Bart Ziegler) Date: Wed, 20 Sep 2023 13:35:33 -0000 Subject: [Shutsanonofre] Victor steps down from CEP chair. In-Reply-To: <7498e7cb-9b45-d788-862f-77dbd4ce2434@citizensoversight.org> References: <7498e7cb-9b45-d788-862f-77dbd4ce2434@citizensoversight.org> Message-ID: Great news, a? Get Outlook for Android ________________________________ From: Shutsanonofre on behalf of Ray Lutz Sent: Saturday, August 19, 2023 10:15:13 AM To: shutsanonofre at citizensoversight.org Subject: [Shutsanonofre] Victor steps down from CEP chair. https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/business/story/2023-08-18/david-victor-steps-down-as-chair-of-community-panel-for-san-onofre-nuclear-plant UC San Diego professor served on Community Engagement Panel for nine years; replaced by Dan Stetson BY ROB NIKOLEWSKI AUG. 18, 2023 2:50 PM PT * Facebook * Twitter * Show more sharing options The organization that convenes meetings with the public to discuss the decommissioning of the now shuttered San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station, as well as the storing of 3.55 million pounds of nuclear waste and other issues at the plant, has a new chairperson. David Victor is stepping down after nine years with the Community Engagement Panel. “All organizations need to refresh leadership, and I’ve come and done the things that I hoped to do, which was to help put (the panel) on a solid footing,” said Victor, who is a professor and co-director of the Deep Decarbonization Initiative at UC San Diego. ADVERTISING Victor will be replaced by Dan Stetson, who previously served as the panel’s vice chair. Stetson is the executive director of the Nicholas Endowment, an Irvine-based private foundation that funds grants to charitable organizations in performing and visual arts, advancement of science and education, and other partnerships. Victor Cabral, a member of the San Clemente City Council, will take over as vice chair. [Ad Choices] [Prepping for Retirement? Here’s How the 4 Percent Rule Can Work...] PAID CONTENT Prepping for Retirement? Here’s How the 4 Percent Rule Can Work... By Northwestern Mutual The 4 percent rule has traditionally been a good guide for how much you can withdraw from your retirement savings. The nuclear plant at San Onofre, known as SONGS for short, has not produced electricity since 2012 after a leak in a steam generator tube led to its closing. The Community Engagement Panel was created two years later by Southern California Edison, the utility that operates SONGS, to act as a liaison between the plant’s co-owners and the public. Hosting four meetings per year, the panel’s members consist of elected officials from communities surrounding SONGS. The panel also includes representatives from labor, tribal and nonprofit interests. The Community Engagement Panel has no regulatory or enforcement powers and members serve on a voluntary basis. Aside from the elected officials, at-large members are recruited by Edison and the plant’s co-owners. Victor’s tenure came during “very, very controversial periods,” at the plant, he said, adding, “I think (the panel) has been a particularly useful institution and I’m proud of what we did and what we keep doing.” One of the most notable meetings came in August 2018 when a worker for a subcontractor at SONGS spoke up and described how a canister filled with spent nuclear fuel assemblies almost fell while being lowered into its storage cavity at the north end of the plant. Edison officials later admitted to a “serious near-miss” but insisted the workers and the public were never in danger if the canister had fallen. The incident led the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission to conduct a special inspection, which concluded that plant officials failed “to establish a rigorous process to ensure adequate procedures, training and oversight guidance” and fined Edison $116,000. Though Victor is stepping down as chair of the Community Engagement Panel, he said he will continue to work on nuclear storage issues. That includes talking about legislation with members of the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate and chairing a working group consisting of people across the country who live near active and decommissioned commercial power plants such as SONGS. “We figure that by getting a common message, speaking from the same playbook as it were, and being very focused on how do you get spent fuel out of these sites where it’s stranded, that we can maybe make some progress,” Victor said. The 3.55 million pounds of highly radioactive fuel at SONGS have been placed into more than 120 canisters, sitting in the plant’s two storage facilities. The waste will remain there until the federal government finds a place to put it. But the problem is not unique to SONGS. Under the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982, the U.S. has a legal responsibility to dispose of the roughly 89,000 metric tons of waste that has accumulated at nuclear power plants in 35 states. A potential permanent facility at Yucca Mountain in Nevada was shelved by the Obama administration in 2010. The Biden administration has been taking steps to find communities across the country who may be willing to take the waste on an interim basis for a still-to-be-determined number of years. U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm has made two appearances at SONGS in the past year, the most recent being in June when she touted initial funding of $26 million to get the ball rolling. Victor said his resignation as Community Engagement Panel chair is “totally unrelated” to a lawsuit filed earlier this year by the Protect Our Communities Foundation. The local environmental group is suing San Diego County, claiming county officials improperly awarded a no-bid contract to the UC San Diego School of Global Policy and Strategy for a report on decarbonization that Victor co-authored that the litigants say unfairly benefits the interests of investor-owned utilities such as San Diego Gas & Electric. “When you’re in the public eye and you’re doing things in the public interest, people are always upset,” Victor said. “And sadly, some people do that by going to court.” The suit was filed in San Diego Superior Court. -- ------- Ray Lutz Citizens' Oversight Projects (COPs) http://www.citizensoversight.org 619-820-5321 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From alimcnally8 at gmail.com Wed Sep 20 18:49:18 2023 From: alimcnally8 at gmail.com (Alice McNally) Date: Wed, 20 Sep 2023 22:49:18 -0000 Subject: [Shutsanonofre] Victor steps down from CEP chair. In-Reply-To: <7498e7cb-9b45-d788-862f-77dbd4ce2434@citizensoversight.org> References: <7498e7cb-9b45-d788-862f-77dbd4ce2434@citizensoversight.org> Message-ID: <29D77A44-36ED-449A-AEAD-5D29867C8EA0@gmail.com> Good news…. > On Aug 19, 2023, at 10:15 AM, Ray Lutz wrote: > > https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/business/story/2023-08-18/david-victor-steps-down-as-chair-of-community-panel-for-san-onofre-nuclear-plant > > UC San Diego professor served on Community Engagement Panel for nine years; replaced by Dan Stetson > > BY ROB NIKOLEWSKI > AUG. 18, 2023 2:50 PM PT > Facebook > > Twitter > > Show more sharing options > > The organization that convenes meetings with the public to discuss the decommissioning of the now shuttered San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station, as well as the storing of 3.55 million pounds of nuclear waste and other issues at the plant, has a new chairperson. > > David Victor is stepping down after nine years with the Community Engagement Panel. > > “All organizations need to refresh leadership, and I’ve come and done the things that I hoped to do, which was to help put (the panel) on a solid footing,” said Victor, who is a professor and co-director of the Deep Decarbonization Initiative at UC San Diego. > > ADVERTISING > Victor will be replaced by Dan Stetson, who previously served as the panel’s vice chair. > > Stetson is the executive director of the Nicholas Endowment , an Irvine-based private foundation that funds grants to charitable organizations in performing and visual arts, advancement of science and education, and other partnerships. > > Victor Cabral, a member of the San Clemente City Council , will take over as vice chair. > > PAID CONTENT > Prepping for Retirement? Here’s How the 4 Percent Rule Can Work... > By Northwestern Mutual > The 4 percent rule has traditionally been a good guide for how much you can withdraw from your retirement savings. > The nuclear plant at San Onofre, known as SONGS for short, has not produced electricity since 2012 after a leak in a steam generator tube led to its closing. > > The Community Engagement Panel was created two years later by Southern California Edison, the utility that operates SONGS, to act as a liaison between the plant’s co-owners and the public . > > Hosting four meetings per year, the panel’s members consist of elected officials from communities surrounding SONGS. The panel also includes representatives from labor, tribal and nonprofit interests. > > The Community Engagement Panel has no regulatory or enforcement powers and members serve on a voluntary basis. Aside from the elected officials, at-large members are recruited by Edison and the plant’s co-owners. > > Victor’s tenure came during “very, very controversial periods,” at the plant, he said, adding, “I think (the panel) has been a particularly useful institution and I’m proud of what we did and what we keep doing.” > > One of the most notable meetings came in August 2018 when a worker for a subcontractor at SONGS spoke up and described how a canister filled with spent nuclear fuel assemblies almost fell while being lowered into its storage cavity at the north end of the plant. > > Edison officials later admitted to a “serious near-miss” but insisted the workers and the public were never in danger if the canister had fallen. The incident led the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission to conduct a special inspection, which concluded that plant officials failed “to establish a rigorous process to ensure adequate procedures, training and oversight guidance” and fined Edison $116,000 . > > Though Victor is stepping down as chair of the Community Engagement Panel, he said he will continue to work on nuclear storage issues. That includes talking about legislation with members of the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate and chairing a working group consisting of people across the country who live near active and decommissioned commercial power plants such as SONGS. > > “We figure that by getting a common message, speaking from the same playbook as it were, and being very focused on how do you get spent fuel out of these sites where it’s stranded, that we can maybe make some progress,” Victor said. > > The 3.55 million pounds of highly radioactive fuel at SONGS have been placed into more than 120 canisters, sitting in the plant’s two storage facilities. > > The waste will remain there until the federal government finds a place to put it. But the problem is not unique to SONGS. > > Under the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982, the U.S. has a legal responsibility to dispose of the roughly 89,000 metric tons of waste that has accumulated at nuclear power plants in 35 states . A potential permanent facility at Yucca Mountain in Nevada was shelved by the Obama administration in 2010. > > The Biden administration has been taking steps to find communities across the country who may be willing to take the waste on an interim basis for a still-to-be-determined number of years. > > U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm has made two appearances at SONGS in the past year, the most recent being in June when she touted initial funding of $26 million to get the ball rolling. > > > Victor said his resignation as Community Engagement Panel chair is “totally unrelated” to a lawsuit filed earlier this year by the Protect Our Communities Foundation. > > The local environmental group is suing San Diego County, claiming county officials improperly awarded a no-bid contract to the UC San Diego School of Global Policy and Strategy for a report on decarbonization that Victor co-authored that the litigants say unfairly benefits the interests of investor-owned utilities such as San Diego Gas & Electric. > > “When you’re in the public eye and you’re doing things in the public interest, people are always upset,” Victor said. “And sadly, some people do that by going to court.” > > The suit was filed in San Diego Superior Court. > > -- > ------- > Ray Lutz > Citizens' Oversight Projects (COPs) > http://www.citizensoversight.org > 619-820-5321 > _______________________________________________ > Shutsanonofre mailing list > Shutsanonofre at citizensoversight.org > http://lists.citizensoversight.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/shutsanonofre -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... 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