Southern California Nuclear Reactor Will Shut Down: Friends of the Earth to Hold Telenews Event Today

WASHINGTON, June 7, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Friends of the Earth, the group that filed a lawsuit contributing directly to the shutdown of the San Onofre nuclear reactor, will hold a phone-based news event today at 1:30 p.m. EDT/10:30 a.m. PDT to discuss the implications of the latest major setback for the U.S. nuclear industry.

Call it the nuclear renaissance in reverse: There are now just 100 active nuclear reactors in the U.S.

Earlier this week, legendary investor Warren Buffett killed a small modular reactor project planned for Iowa. On May 7, Dominion Resources Inc. voluntarily shut the 566-megawatt Kewaunee nuclear power plant in Wisconsin. Also on May 7th, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission ruled that a partnership between NRG Energy Inc. and Toshiba Corp. to build the South Texas Project reactors violates a U.S. law prohibiting foreign control of nuclear power plants. On May 2, Duke Energy announced that it was abandoning plans for two nuclear reactors at the Shearon Harris nuclear plant in North Carolina.  On February 5, Duke announced that it would not repair the damaged Crystal River reactor in Florida. 

News event speakers will include:

• Erich Pica, president, Friends of the Earth US; and
• S. David Freeman, former head of Los Angeles Water and Power, federal Tennessee Valley Authority and numerous nuclear utilities.

TO PARTICIPATE: Join the live phone-based national news conference (with full, two-way Q&A) at 1:30 p.m. EDT/10:30 a.m. PDT on June 7, 2013 by dialing 1 (800) 860-2442.   Ask for the "San Onofre reactor closing" news event.

CAN'T PARTICIPATE?:  A streaming audio replay of the news event will be available on the Web at www.foe.org as of 5 p.m. EDT/2 p.m. PDT on Friday, June 7, 2013. 

Friends of the Earth strives for a more healthy and just world. Friends of the Earth understands that the challenges facing our planet call for more than half measures, so we push for the reforms that are needed, not merely the ones that are politically easy. Sometimes, this involves speaking uncomfortable truths to power and demanding more than people think is possible. It's hard work. But the pressures facing our planet and its people are too important for us to compromise. For more information, see http://www.foe.org.

SOURCE Friends of the Earth, Washington, D.C.