San Onofre Nuclear [Waste] Generating Station is operated by Southern California Edison, a for-profit electric utility. 

Located 40 miles from the heart of Riverside and just 2 miles south of the peaceful beach village of San Clemente, San Onofre sits in a tsunami zone near major earthquake faults. On top of that, San Onofre has the worst safety performance of all 63 nuclear power plants in the United States. 

San Diego Gas and Electric (run by Sempra, a for-profit electric utility) owns approximately 18% of San Onofre. Riverside Public Utilities (RPU) owns 2% of San Onofre. As part owner, we pay 2% of the costs of maintenance and receive 2% of the power output. 

That 2% has become increasingly costly over the past few months. San Onofre has been shut down since January 31, 2012, due to unforseen malfunctions. Edison is trying its hardest to bring San Onofre back online, because they lose $1,000,000/day every day it is non-operational. RPU is having to spend $700,000 every month for replacement power. 

Seeing what happened in Fukushima, Japan, on March 11, 2011 following a 9.0 earthquake and massive tsunami, it seems prudent to reconsider nuclear power elsewhere, especially in earthquake-prone zones. San Onofre Nuclear [Waste] Generating Station poses a threat to the City of Riverside, as well as the entire continent. Much of the country's food supply comes from California. Funding a nuclear power plant in our backyard is nothing less than funding mass suicide.

Based on serious economic, social, and environmental concerns with wide-ranging consequences that will last for millennia, the below-signed ask Riverside Public Utilities take leadership and divest from San Onofre Nuclear Waste Generating Station and invest the savings in energy conservation education, energy efficiency programs and technologies, and renewABLE energy sources. Let's build resilient communities, not destroy them.

For more information, visit Communities Creating Clean Energy: CreatingCleanEnergy.org
Nuclear-Free California: NuclearFreeCal.org
San Onofre Safety: SanOnofreSafety.org 

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