San Clemente Meltdown Clock

Tick Tick Tick 

Who didn't protest their daily, 

childhood wake-up call,

"Get up, you'll be late for school!"

We like our sleep. 

Deep, deep sleep.

Wake us from it, and face our protest.

But protest, is what we do.

When the electric bill arrives, and it's 

off the chart high - we protest,

"Turn off those lights!"

Filling our car at the pump as the  

price flies past $50 we protest,

"The oil companies are screwing us!"

(actually it's Wall St, but that's a 

different conversation).

We protest when driving, 

"Hey, speed it up buddy, you're

blocking traffic." 

We protest when eating out, 

"This food is cold!"

We protest to the doctor, 

"My neck still hurts doc.

 Whatever you're prescribing, 

 ain't working." 

Protest shapes the emotional bow 

of Life's boat, as we plow thru troubled 

waters on our cruise to happiness - 

sailing towards the day's good stuff:

the smooth bits, 

the easy bits, 

the laughable bits, 

then whammo,

we hit a speed bump,

and boy do we protest,

"Where'd that come from?"

"Who put that there?"

"Why wasn't I notified?"

"Dang, I just spilled my coffee."

Chances are, we were notified the 

pesky speed bump was there, for 

safety's sake. 

To protect the neighborhood. 

Slowing traffic down to a safe 

and sane speed.

Slowing the fools of the world down 

before they kill us, is a protest-call 

worth making. And to keep making, 

until enough people hear it and finally, 

grudgingly, wake up.

But waking up, is hard to do.

The News is filled with protest calls 

not heard, and or worse - ignored. 

How many times have you thought,

"If I'd only known,"

or -

"Hey, I was too busy, okay,"  

as nightmare scenario crashes 

head-on into grizzled reality. 

"I knew the speed bump was there. 

 I watched them put it there. 

 Guess I forgot."

What is San Clemente's 40-year old 

wake-up call today? - SONGS.

A happy singsongy acronym, glossing 

over what we know is man's deadliest 

byproduct - nuclear meltdown.

Radioactive contamination on a global

scale. The plume no one escapes.

A 50-mile Evacuation Zone - here?

8-million people stuck in that Zone - here?

An old nuke-facility, sitting on fault lines, 

vulnerable to tsunami, and god knows

what else is worth shouting about.

A protest decades overdue.

SONGS' aged nuke-clock is ticking 

louder and louder, but waiting until the 

final alarm screams - "Evacuate Now!"

before shutting SONGS down, is too late. 

And "too-late" in nuke-lingo, is as they 

say, "all she wrote."

Apparently Chernobyl, 3-Mile Island and 

Fukushima haven't opened enough sleepy 

eyes and ears, to SONGS' deadly tune: 

nuclear meltdown never stops melting, ever.

We've gotten our wake-up call.

It's spelled F  u  k  u  s  h  i  m  a. 

Will we wake in time to flip SONGS' 

nuclear-switch to OFF?

Japan didn't.

tick, tick, tick, tick, tick...

jerry collamer

San Clemente

Ca - 92672

Dan Hirsch Speaking to San Clemente Fukushima USA

Dan Hirsch, Nuclear expert speaking to the People of San Clemente,

 Could Fukushima happen here?

 The answer is yes.

Special thanks to Ace Hoffman for this very important video!

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