Friday, October 14, 2011

San Clemente Downwinders




Downwinders refers to individuals and communities who are exposed to radioactive contamination...




Thursday, October 13, 2011

Replace Jen Tucker San Clemente

Jen Tucker San Clemente Disaster Guru #FAIL

Jen Tucker, SC's emergency preparedness guru, as a rule, 
paints a "no worries, we've got it covered" spin to a potential 
SONGS hiccup (nuke-jargon for "OMG Chet, it's happening!!!")
I've never heard her say otherwise.
And I've heard her a bunch.
But then, what's the other choice, scream, "We're All Doomed!"

Real estate honchos and chambers of commerce 
so hate the doomed-scenario.

Sad but true reality: in South County's post-disaster, post meltdown, 
post-radiation-plume, post evac dialogue, if we Shut SONGS Now, 
the hypothetical post-nuclear holocaust preparedness mumbo jumbo 
(which flies out the window anyway when the big-one hits, as chaos 
reigns supreme, aka Fukushima  and Chernobyl), becomes unnecessary.

That said - when counting I-5 freeway overpasses between SONGS
(San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station) and Crown Valley Pkwy,
12 or so miles to the north = 12. 

1-overpass per mile. 
Hmm (what goes up, can come down).

Count'em. 
See what number you come up with. 
There may be more, where the I-5 freeway passes over, 
or under a city street, or rail line, or a creek below.

Continuing north to the 405 / I-5 interchange, at Alton Parkway: 
Overs and Unders equal = 1 per mile.

18 overpasses between SONGS and the 405?
Over or under 18-times, in 18-miles. 

4-years ago, in SJC, where I-5 spans Trubuco Creek, 
by total accident, Caltrans engineers discovered severe 
cracks in that I-5 span, and immediately retrofitted it.

I repeat - severe cracking, that was not supposed to be there.
By accident, they found it, and fixed it.

It's a safe bet, the most perfect evac-scenario conceived, 
fails, if just one of the 18, I-5 weak spots / overpasses / 
underpasses - collapse. Or in any way become
impassable. Then what?

Will the I-5 freeway, from Basilone Rd, to the 405, withstand an 8.0
at every elevated juncture?
Or a 7.5?
Or a 6.8?
Caltrans needs to give us the answer, quick.

Because, if even one cracks, when the big-one hits:
end of Evacuation Plan A (hello...Plan B?).

With SONGS shut for good, erases our one, big-bad negative 
when the big one does hit (as predicted).

So: Plan A - Shut SONGS now (for good).
Plan B: look for cracks in I-5, end-to-end, top-to-bottom, now.

Apologies to South County's chambers of commerce and 
realtors everywhere, for this unwelcome dose of 
evacuation Reality.

jerry collamer
San Clemente
Ca - 92672




Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Applying Lessons Learned From Fukushima in San Clemente


San Clemente: Are Regulators And The Nuclear Industry Applying The Valuable Lessons Learned From Fukushima? from Fairewinds Associates
Who is Arnie Gundersen?

Arnie is an energy advisor with 39-years of nuclear power engineering experience. A former nuclear industry senior vice president, he earned his Bachelor's and Master's Degrees in nuclear engineering, holds a nuclear safety patent, and was a licensed reactor operator.

During his nuclear industry career, Arnie managed and coordinated projects at 70-nuclear power plants around the country. He currently speaks on television, radio, and at public meetings on the need for a new paradigm in energy production. An independent nuclear engineering and safety expert, Arnie provides testimony on nuclear operations, reliability, safety, and radiation issues to the NRC, Congressional and State Legislatures, and Government Agencies and Officials throughout the US, Canada, and internationally. In 2008, he was appointed by the Vermont Senate President to be the first Chair of the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Plant Oversight Panel. He has testified in numerous cases and before many different legislative bodies including the Czech Republic Senate.

Using knowledge from his Masters Thesis on Cooling Towers, Arnie analyzed and predicted problems with Vermont Yankee’s cooling towers three years prior to their 2007 collapse. His Environmental Court testimony concerned available and economically viable alternatives to cooling towers in order to reduce consumptive water use and the ecological damage caused by cooling tower drift and heated effluents.

As the former vice president in an engineering organization, Arnie led the team of engineers who developed the plans for decommissioning Shippingport, the first major nuclear power plant in the US to be fully dismantled. He was also an invited author on the first DOE Decommissioning Handbook. Source term reconstruction is a method of forensic engineering used to calculate radiation releases from various nuclear facilities after nuclear incidents or accidents.

Arnie is frequently called upon by public officials, attorneys, and intervenors, to perform source term reconstructions. His source term reconstruction efforts vary. Arnie has calculated exposures to oil workers, who received radiation exposure while working on wells. He has also calculated radiation releases to children with health concerns, who live near a nuclear facility, like the one that carted radioactive sewage off-site and spread it on farmers' fields. Finally, he has performed an accurate source term construction of the radiation releases from the Three Mile Island nuclear accident.

Also involved in his local community, Arnie has been a part-time math professor at Community College of Vermont (CCV) since 2007. He also taught high school physics and mathematics for 13 years and was an instructor at RPI's college reactor lab.


Tuesday, October 11, 2011

San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station Public Hearing TONIGHT





SONGS and NRC spoke. Now it's our turn,
to speak, listen and learn the Truth about
SONGS, and why the plant must close, now.

SCGreen has compiled an impressive group
of speakers from the nuke-industry, who oppose
nuclear generation of electricity.

I know you know.

Tonight the San Clemente Community Center - 6:30,
is a must come.

Reason being, we need a solid public turn-out
to show, we as a community are deeply concerned
about a Fukushima event happening here?

'Deeply concerned' is the under statement of the century
for every SC property owner.

JC



Monday, October 10, 2011

San Clemente Great Shake Out




A film depiction of the USGS ShakeOut Earthquake Scenario

Nuke Plants On Fault Lines In Tsunami Hazard Zones = Fukushima... Any Questions?



Friday, October 7, 2011

Fukushima USA Lessons Learned Public Hearing





Come take part!

The Lessons Learned from Fukushima Part Two:

Independent Experts about the Safety of the San Onofre Nuclear Waste Station.

Tues., Oct. 11 6:30 PM, San Clemente Community Center (100 N. Calle Seville).


ANY QUESTIONS???


Tuesday, October 4, 2011

NRC Too Cozy With Nuke Industry San Clemente

@Fairewinds disagrees with a recent New York Times Opinion that claims that #Fukushima was caused because Japanese regulators did not properly oversee Tokyo Electric. Fairewinds shows that in the United States, the same cozy relationship exists between the NRC and the nuclear industry. Proper regulation of nuclear power has been coopted worldwide by industry refusal to implement the cost to assure nuclear safety.