Mailbag: Where have all the news racks gone?

There is a mysterious campaign going on against our local newspapers. They keep disappearing.

We were surprised and disappointed to see that local newspapers are no longer available in the space between Anastasia and the Flea Market on Ocean Avenue.

A few years ago, local newspapers were removed from the walkway between the post office and the Lumberyard mall. Then local newspapers were banned from the entrance to Wells Fargo Bank.

All were convenient places to pick up copies, as well as presenting an opportunity to check out nearby businesses.

We don’t know if these removals were done at the wish of the businesses, or some out-of-town property managers or neatness zealots. Sure, things were a little untidy at times, but then life can be untidy as well.

Anne and Dick Frank

Laguna Beach

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Tell regulatory group we don’t want waste dump

Laguna Beach is within the 20-square-mile area subject to permanent relocation in the event of a radiation accident at the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station, which has been closed because of safety concerns.

The plant is situated in a recognized tsunami, earthquake and firestorm zone and is vulnerable to climate change and terrorist attack. The 1,631 tons of spent fuel now stored on the site will remain highly radioactive for tens of thousands of generations, according to a report commissioned by the Friends of the Earth organization in 2013.

We were promised when the plant was constructed that the spent fuel rods would be removed from the site, but the current plan permits them to be stored on the site for 60 years or indefinitely until a federal repository for them has been created, according to the report.

At the same time, the roads and railroad spurs and the equipment necessary for the transfer of the fuel rods to a safe repository are scheduled to be removed by 2032, and there is no funding for storage after 2048, according to a Southern California Edison Post-Shutdown Decommissioning Activities report.

A better idea would be to move the spent fuel rods to a secure interim location, perhaps a military base or some other sparsely populated area, before the decommissioning of the plant is considered complete and to hold SCE responsible for their safety and security as long as they remain at San Onofre.

We have until Dec. 22 to let the Nuclear Regulatory Commission know that we don’t want a radioactive waste dump in our backyard. The address is U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Attn: Cindy Bladey, Office of Administration, NRC, Mail Stop: 3WFN-06-A44M, Washington, D.C. 20555-0001.

Barbara Metzger

Laguna Beach