In the 1970s an anti-nuclear movement developed in California after President Richard Nixon called for the construction of 1000 nuclear power plants across the nation by the year 2000. Proposals to build nuclear power plants near fault lines or along the California coast were met with vehement opposition. The anti-nuclear movement gained momentum when leading scientists and engineers joined the cause. In 1976 California State Legislature passed a moratorium on further nuclear power plant development until a safe way to dispose of radioactive waste was developed.
While protests and blockades continued at the Diablo Canyon Power Plant near San Luis Obispo, a documentary film called Dark Circle, released in 1982, brought to light the connection between nuclear power industries and nuclear weapons. Anti-nuclear protests shifted from problems with nuclear power plants to the prospects of nuclear war. In the spring of 1982, massive protests and rallies took place across the nation.
In San Francisco, the protest that took place on March 22, 1982 targeted those institutions that invested in nuclear energy. Businesses including Wells Fargo, the law firm Brobeck, Phleger & Harrison, and Merrill Lynch were forced to close down for the day. Westinghouse and General Electric hired extra security. There was a huge police reaction, with snipers positioned on rooftops and bomb and hostage squads on standby. But in the end, only four arrests were made and, while forced to spend the night in jail, no charges were filed.
Activists made attempts to blockade Lawrence Livermore Laboratory, one of two facilities in the nation that designed nuclear weapons, since February. In June of 1982 more than 1,300 protestors were arrested. On June 12th, the largest disarmament demonstration in the nation’s history took place in New York City’s Central Park, where 700,000 gathered to demand the end to nuclear weapons. That same day, 30,000 San Franciscans attended a rally in the Civic Center. These protests did not result in any legislation changes regarding disarmament: US leaders have continued to assert that a nuclear arsenal is necessary as a deterrent from global aggression.
As of 2013 the Diablo Canyon Power Plant is the only operational nuclear power plant left in California. There are plans to have it decommissioned by 2025.
