San Onofre Action Alert May 23rd in Irvine

We will have a rally and Press Conference on May, 23 4 to 6pm in Irvine at 14555 Bake St. which is in between Cromwell and Trabucco to delivery our letter to SCE , . Please bring you signs and banners. This action is being taken in SF & SD as well as in Irvine. There is free guest parking right in front of the employee parking lot on the Bake st side of the street.

The will go something like this & more. "Now that both reactors are down and it doesn't look safe to re start them we want to know why the almost 1/2 a billions that was to be used for energy efficiency & conservation programs is still sitting in the bank? With San Onofre shutdown this money should be spend on more meaningful programs than light bulbs, if SCE had a real and effective program for rebates on air conditioners, the energy savings this summer during peak energy periods could prevent any foreseeable problems in the coming months." You will get a copy of the letter as well when it is done.

Thanks and hope to see many of you there

Bad Vibrations San Onofre Exposed

In conclusion, the NRC has stated that nuclear power plants like San Onofre cannot risk compromising critical safety systems and possible radiological contamination in an effort to return to operation before a thorough root cause analysis, modifications, and subsequent repairs are adequately reviewed by the NRC and implemented. Historical evidence has proven that power reductions do not solve underlying and serious degradation problems, resonance frequency issues. Rather, power reductions can significantly increase the risk of unplanned, forced outages during times of peak demand and can cause significant risk to public health in the event of a single tube rupture or a series of ruptures if the main steam line were to break.

Finally, if a steam-­‐line accident were to occur, vibrationally induced tube damage at San Onofre could cause an inordinate amount of radioactivity to be released outside of the containment system compromising public health and safety in one of the most heavily populated areas in the entire United States.
Read the entire report here 

Nuclear Free Cal Network Summit May 27, 2012

The next Nuclear Free Cal Network Summit will be in San Clemente on May 27th on Sunday at 10am to 4pm if you want to join us. RSVP please, cosponsored by ROSE, Peace Resource Center of SD, and Friends of the Earth. Only a few seats left for more info contact me asap!

Fukushima Truth And Future

Fukushima Daiichi: The Truth and the Future

As part of a presentation in Kansai, Japan on May 12th 2012, Maggie and Arnie Gundersen of Fairewinds Energy Education answers specific questions asked by symposium organizers regarding the condition of the spent fuel pool at Fukushima Daiichi Unit 4. Fairewinds analyzes the explosion at Fukushima Daiichi Unit 3. Also, Arnie discusses what the future may hold for Japan if it chooses a path without nuclear power.

James Patton Darin R. McClure Interview Notes

Yesterday I was interviewed by Jim Patton the Main Anchor / Reporter at San Diego 6 News. We went all over the San Onofre topic, way beyond what is going on at the Concordia Elementary School here in San Clemente,

Here are a few of the topics we covered.

New health study for those living next to San Onofre,
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission announced that it has asked the National Academy of Sciences to do a “state-of-the-art study on cancer risk for populations surrounding nuclear power facilities.” via @OCReggie the old study used county-wide data to reach conclusions - a blunt instrument that may again downplay the impact on those living closest to a reactor. (Residents in La Habra and San Clemente live in the same county – but few will argue that their exposure to San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station is the same.)

High levels of radiation here in Corona Del Mar kelp.
These 131I levels represent a significant input into the kelp forest ecosystem. via @uscweb

What do I want from Concordia Elementary anyway?
I was asked if I had read, "What would happen to our kids in event of a nuclear melt down at San Onofre?" via CAPOUSD (sorry but this is not Readiness) I want to know where would I pick up my kids in case of an evacuation. How would I find this information if there were an emergency?

Public Real Time Radiation Monitoring in San Clemente
Special thanks to Creative Electron for using SanOnonfre.com as a beta tester of their product. Without the @iRadgeiger the closest public, real time radiation monitoring would be in Anaheim.

What is going on at San Onofre? 
Get the truth from Dan Hirsch, the man whos students found that the worst nuclear accident in US history is right here in Southern California, speaking at the San Onofre Shutdown rally, April 29, 2012.

Keep San Onofre Closed FOREVER!

Rally to Shut San Onofre / A short film by @AceHoffman
Guest speakers:
Daniel Hirsch -- Committee to Bridge the Gap 
Larry Agran - Irvine City Council 
Cathy Iwane - American who lived for 25 years in Japan

Other Speakers Included: Gene Stone -- MC, Ray Lutz, Libbe Halevy -- Speaker & co-MC, Mel Vernon, Tribal chair, San Luis Rey Band of Luiseno Indians -- Blessing 
Ace Hoffman, Cori Schumacher, Chrystal Coleman, Shaun Burine, Gary Headrick 

Music graciously provided by Charlie Imes and Reverend Stickman, The Occupellas

Sponsors/endorsers of the rally included:
Congressman Bob Filner, CA-51 
Citizens Oversight Projects (COPS) 
Peace Resource Center of San Diego 
Residents Organized for a Safe Environment (ROSE) 
San Onofre Safety (SOS) 
San Clemente Green 
San Diego Coalition for Peace and Justice (SDCPJ) 
Occupy Encinitas 
Occupy Escondido 
Talk Nukes 
Mimi Kennedy, National Chair, Progressive Democrats of America (PDA) and Actress 
Bryan Pease, Esq., San Diego City Council District 1 Candidate 
Kevin Keenan, Esq.

Respect Responsibility Readiness

Respect Responsibility & Readiness ... 

so began the 5th grade trimester awards here in San Clemente, with the 3 R's of Concordia Elementary. But I digress, this story started the Friday before. Seems there was a fire that afternoon at the San Onofre Nuclear Power Plant just 2 miles away.  Over the school loudspeaker kids, k-5, were told to report to their classrooms and to remain there. Once back in their classrooms the smart kids asked that the windows be closed ... 

That day we picked up our children as usual and went home.  Monday came, no notice, no email about what happend, or what would happen next, Tuesday, still nothing.  We have a school that will send out an email or a note home when the children have head lice, (seems the 4th grade is having a serious infection this year). Wednesday found me sitting at the principles desk searching for answers. 

Dave Gerhard, Principal of Concordia Elementary told me that he had called the school and asked for the kids to go back to their classes in case they had to notify the teachers about a "Shelter in Place" or "Evacuate" order. When asked by me why no notice was sent out he told me that the school district by the way of Mike Beekman had decided that an email or a flyier home was not needed because only 5-6 concerned parents called the San Onofre Nuke Plant to see what was going on.  Why would this be a factor I wondered out loud? Personally I think 5-6 parents calling is a significant number. I asked Mr Gehard to please send out a notification, & he did 2 hours later to a list serve apparently I and many other parents are not on. Some Concordia parents got this message, some did not.

What I have always loved about this school is the implementation of "ConnectED" or a "Connected Education" to learning, there are rain barrels to capture the rain, butterfly gardens to feed the Monarch butterflies that our San Clemente has started to become famous for. There is even a full whale fossil on campus. All of these things are brought into our children's education as they are happening. They are connecting what is going on in the real world with what is going on in the classroom. 

I asked Principle Gerhard, What does "Shelter in place or Evacuation" mean to me or my child?

When he let me know that the school was thinking of having a representative from San Onofre put on something  I let Mr. Gerhert know they were not on the top of my list of corporations we should be trusting.  The recent nuke leak they lied about, falsifying fire reports, misleading the Nuclear Regulatory Commission on recent upgrades and documented problems with their safety culture.  His words gave me a chilling effect that went up my spine. 

So here it goes, I would want to see from our school is an answer to the 3 R's.

Respect
Respect the dangers of the Nuclear Power Plant and keep the parents involved and educated. Before this fire incident there was also a leak at the plant. Parents in San Juan Capistrano were notified by telephone of the leak. The plant is currently offline because of mechanical failures and unusual wear of parts recently replaced. These are all things the parents should be notified of.

Responsibility
You have Responsibility for our children and not to Southern California Edison, the owners and operators of the San Onofre Nuclear plant.

Readiness is knowing what would have been expected of us next. If this were a "real evacuation" what would happen? Where would we go to pick up our children? What is the plan?

What could happen down at that fossil 2 miles south of Concordia? Watch this video to connect the news to your education.