A Nuclear Issue - The Great Shake Out In San Clemente

Potassium iodide 

Tuesday night, October 18th, was at least a partial victory for us in this final meeting the city held in a series of three meetings on Lessons Learned from Fukushima. It was clear from the beginning that the council would not go as far as calling for an immediate shutdown, but we felt it was worth the effort to try to persuade them while also informing a public largely blind to the true dangers of San Onofre. In our awareness campaign alone, we distributed over 6000 fliers revealing reliable and verified facts that should concern those of us living within 50 miles of the second most dangerous nuclear power plant of all 104 in the USA. In the last four months we must have attended at least six televised city council meetings with passionate and persuasive requests to take action. Often we were criticized for being alarmists and extremists, but so were four of the top independent nuclear experts that we brought into the talks. It seemed no one wanted to hear the truth from us or anyone else.

But then the Staff Recommendation came out shortly before the meeting and had an alternative proposal similar to ours, citing many of the same issues, but falling short of demanding an immediate shutdown until after the lessons from Fukushima had been applied. We were glad to see one statement in particular calling for a moratorium on re-licensing until a permanent storage solution for the highly radioactive waste was available. That shuts down any likelihood of them going past 2022, but of course we don't think we have that kind of time to wait for the next major quake in our area.

Coincidentally, today is the practice run for the "Great Shake Out" which simulates a 7.8 on the San Andreas Fault, although they know that it could easily be an 8.0 or greater, (which is twice the power of a 7.8). The death and destruction they anticipate is staggering, and even at that, it has no consideration at all for nuclear fallout in case there are problems at San Onofre. Perhaps it is simply incalculable. How foolish can our planning efforts be if we anticipate a huge earthquake with such certainty in "The Great Shake Out" but act as if the big quake is highly unlikely when discussing vulnerabilities of a nuclear power plant only built to withstand a 7.0?

Anyway, after a long night of deliberations we were pleased to get a 5-0 Vote for the staff recommendation which was actually strengthened by additional language stressing urgency and a call to action for every city in Orange County to support this effort. That was bigger than anything we ever expected. We are very grateful to the leaders of our city for showing the courage and wisdom of holding these meetings for us and for reaching beyond their comfort zones to do what is right. It is certainly quite an accomplishment in a "company town" like ours when Edison claims to contribute over $200 million to our local economy per year.

Next post we'll provide the details of the letters that are actually produced by the city.
Related articles are available at the links below.

Local Nuclear Plant Under Microscope
http://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/Is-San-Diego-Plant-Ready-for-Emerg...

Remove Nuclear Waste, Close La Pata Gap, San Clemente Officials Urge
http://sanclemente.patch.com/articles/council-to-pressure-for-removal-of...

On Nuclear Issues, Council Aims for Balance
http://sanclementetimes.com/bookmark/16101086

San Clemente seeks O.C. support for nuclear-plant requests
http://www.ocregister.com/news/san-322688-nuclear-onofre.html

Nuke Topic at San Clemente City Council 10-18-11

City Council will be meeting Tuesday at 6pm/City Hall after a 4 month long investigation into "Lessons Learned From Fukushima". The Staff Report  recommends a series of  letters supporting existing initiatives already underway to the higher ups in the chain of command regarding safety concerns at San Onofre. We are encouraged by the direction things are headed but feel more should be done to proceed towards a "thoughtful phase out" of San Onofre. This would be our third attempt to find more common ground in our community although we would feel much safer if the call for a shutdown was more immediate. Your attendance at this meeting helps assure that we will be included in playing an active role as the city grapples with this dangerous problem. Please wear something red to show solidarity if you can be there in person. If not, watch it live on TV Channel 30 or go to live.san-clemente.org to watch on the internet.

Trust But Verify San Clemente

In the words of a great American, Trust But Verify... 
San Clemente City Council, Where we can see live radiation readings on the city site? 
San Clemente City Council, Do you support the TOOTH FAIRY PROJECT? 
 Trust But Verify, anything less is not protecting the heath of your citizens.

San Clemente Downwinders

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

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

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.

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