A 3.6-magnitude earthquake struck Palm Springs, California, on Thursday morning.
The US Geological Survey said the quake hit about 10 miles north of the city.
There were no reports of injuries or damage, KTLA reported.
Some people in Los Angeles and other parts of Southern California felt the temblor.
The quake hit at around 8:53 a.m. local time with a depth of 10 miles.
AP update:
California nuke plant key in quake safety review
WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal regulators have been too slow and lax when it comes to ensuring the safety of California’s last operating nuclear plant, according to Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer, who clashed repeatedly with members of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission during a Senate committee hearing Wednesday.
Boxer said that the lessons of Japan’s Fukushima nuclear disaster more than three years ago have not been taken to heart nearly enough at Diablo Canyon, where new seismic faults have been discovered since the plant was constructed decades ago. Boxer pointed out that a senior federal expert has urged the NRC to shut down the plant until the agency can determine whether the reactors can withstand shaking from any of the nearby faults.
Boxer said lax enforcement of seismic safeguards extends to other nuclear plants, too. She said the agency has yet to fully complete any of 12 key safety recommendations that a task force made in response to Fukushima more than three years ago.
The NRC’s outgoing chairman, Allison Macfarlane, told Boxer that nuclear plants in the U.S. are safer since Fukushima.
Some have built earthquake proof shelters to make sure reactors are protected. Plants have also installed new pumps and other equipment to deal with flooding. Two national response centers have been opened in the past six months — one in Phoenix and the other in Memphis — that can deliver emergency generators, hoses and other backup equipment to nuclear plants in distress within 24 hours.
Regarding Diablo Canyon, she told Boxer that the inspector the senator cited also acknowledged there was no “immediate” safety concern with the plant.
“They are in compliance with their license and we consider them safe to operate until we see new information that tells us otherwise,” Macfarlane said. “If we find new information that suggests they are not safe to operate, we will shut them down.”
Boxer seized on the contention that the NRC didn’t view the threat to the plant as immediate.
