, when voters approved an ordinance prohibiting investments in organizations with ties to nuclear energy, weapons and other infrastructure — including the federal government — within city limits.
His journey began at Diablo Canyon, where a campaign to save the largest nuclear power plant in California recently helped push Gov. Gavin Newsom to keep the reactors operating past the San Luis Obispo County facility’s long-planned 2025 shutdown date. In addition to work with Stand Up for Nuclear and the Save Diablo Group, Pickering also helps lead the Nuclear is Clean Energy club at UC Berkeley. With assistance from the nuclear engineering department, NiCE has started a small, grassroots campaign to modernize the city’s “nuclear-free zone” policy — brainstorming symbols that don’t stoke fear and collecting signatures petitioning for a future ballot measure.
That ire was on display at a recent Berkeley City Council meeting, where the community was split on a resolution opposing the Japanese government’s decision to dump 1.28 million metric tons of wastewater from its Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant into the Pacific Ocean.