A LEAKED report came to light today from a US federal nuclear expert calling for the closure of California’s last operating nuclear plant.

Michael Peck, who was Diablo Canyon’s lead inspector for five years, said in a confidential report that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) was not applying its own safety rules.

Mr Peck warned that no-one knows whether the facility’s equipment can withstand stress from nearby geological faults.

Continuing to run the reactors, Mr Peck wrote, “challenges the presumption of nuclear safety.”

The report was filed in 2013 but the NRC has not yet ruled on it.

The NRC, which oversees the commercial nuclear power industry, and plant owner Pacific Gas and Electric insist the reactors comply with earthquake safety standards.

But California Senator Barbara Boxer said she was alarmed that the report had been left for a year.

“The NRC failure to act constitutes an abdication of its responsibility to protect public health and safety,” she said.