Anti-nuclear movement in California

The 1970s proved to be a pivotal period for the anti-nuclear movement in California. The climate between nuclear power advocates and environmentalists was confrontational. [http://infodome.sdsu.edu/about/depts/spcollections/collections/sundesert.shtml San Diego Gas & Electric, Sundesert Nuclear Power Plant Collection] ]

Early conflicts

The birth of the anti-nuclear movement in California can be traced to controversy over Pacific Gas & Electric's attempt to build the nation's first commercially viable nuclear power plant in Bodega Bay. This conflict began in 1958 and ended in 1964, with the forced abandonment of these plans. Attempts to build a nuclear power plant in Malibu were similar to those at Bodega Bay and had the same fate. [http://jpe.library.arizona.edu/volume_6/wellockvol6.htm Critical Masses: Opposition to Nuclear Power in California, 1958-1978] ]

Into the seventies

The anti-nuclear movement grew in California between 1964 and 1974. It was during this period that some scientists and engineers began supporting the positions of the activists. They were influenced by the non-material philosophy that had inspired activists and had impacted the public consciousness. While Californian voters failed to pass a 1972 proposal placing a 5-year moratorium on nuclear plant construction, anti-nuclear groups campaigned to stop construction of several proposed plants in the seventies, especially those located on the coast and near fault lines. These proposals included the Sundesert Nuclear Power Plant, which was never built. [ [http://content.cdlib.org/view?docId=tf6d5nb4pj&doc.view=entire_text&brand=oac August S. Carstens Collection] ]

Over a two-week period in 1981, 1,900 activists were arrested at Diablo Canyon Power Plant. It was the largest arrest in the history of the U.S. anti-nuclear movement. [ [http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-168285572.html Conservation Fallout: Nuclear Protest at Diablo Canyon] ]

In this period there were controversies within the Sierra Club about how to lead the anti-nuclear movement, and this led to a split over the Diablo Canyon plant which ended in victory for the utilities. The split led to the formation of Friends of the Earth, led by David Brower.

In 1979, Abalone Alliance members held a 38-day sit-in in the Californian Governor Jerry Brown's office to protest continued operation of Rancho Seco Nuclear Generating Station, which was a duplicate of the Three Mile Island facility. [ [http://books.google.com.au/books?id=vYvL4yFI2AQC&pg=PA659&lpg=PA659&dq=%22diablo+canyon%22+arrests&source=web&ots=5gClkLdfIe&sig=H0Ve-JYJB4Mj1G10oUPxPq4NUDc&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=2&ct=result#PPA659,M1 Hippy Dictionary] p.559.] In 1989, Sacremento voters voted to shut down the Rancho Seco power plant. [ [http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,957975,00.html Shutting Down Rancho Seco] ]

Nuclear-free communities

On November 14th 1984 the Davis, California City Council declared the city to be a nuclear free zone. [ [http://daviswiki.org/Nuclear_Free_Zone Nuclear Free Zone] ] Another well-known nuclear-free community is Berkeley, California, whose citizens passed the Nuclear Free Berkeley Act in 1986 which allows the city to levy fines for nuclear weapons-related activity and to boycott companies involved in the United States nuclear infrastructure.

ee also

*Anti-nuclear movement in the United States
*List of anti-nuclear protests in the United States
*Nuclear debate
*Nuclear free zone

References

Further reading

*Ondaatje, Elizabeth H. (c1988). "Trends in antinuclear protests in the United States, 1984-1987".
*Wellock, Thomas R. (1998). "Critical Masses: Opposition to Nuclear Power in California, 1958-1978".
*Wills, John (2006). "Conservation Fallout: Nuclear Protest at Diablo Canyon".

External links

* [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,879643-1,00.html The Struggle over Nuclear Power]
* [http://www.h-net.msu.edu/reviews/showrev.cgi?path=33191195415058 Conservation Fallout: Nuclear Protest at Diablo Canyon]
* [http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN0626080620070406 Police arrest 64 at California anti-nuclear protest]