About

This website is a public resource for factual information about the serious safety issues with the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station and the tons of nuclear waste stored just a few miles south of San Clemente, California. Most of the information is from official government and scientific documents.

Since the San Onofre reactors are permanently shutdown, our main focus is on the management of the nuclear waste.  Mismanagement of nuclear waste at San Onofre could affect the entire country and more.  A major radiation release at San Onofre could require a permanent evacuation of parts of Southern California, damage the nation’s food supply, jeopardize our health, the environment, and our national security. It could affect the economic and political stability of California, the nation and potentially other parts of the world.

• California is the eight ranking economy in the world, virtually tied with Italy and the Russian Federation, and larger than Canada, Australia and Spain.
• More than 40 percent of containerized imports enter the country through California ports, and nearly 30 percent of the country’s exports depart through them.
• California produces nearly half of the U.S. grown fruits, nuts and vegetables. California remained the number one state in cash farm receipts in 2011, with its $43.5 billion in revenue representing 11.6 percent of the U.S. total. U. S. consumers regularly purchase several crops produced solely in California.
• San Onofre is located adjacent to the primary vehicle transportation artery between Los Angeles and San Diego (I-5) and Mexico, and is home to one of the largest military installations on the West Coast (Camp Pendleton).

The information on this website is extensively research and fact checked by our coalition of volunteer local citizens and organizations living within the danger zone of San Onofre. We have joined forces to inform the public about critical issues that are not being resolved by those responsible for protecting our safety from a nuclear disaster. There is limited information available from the mainstream media, so we are sharing this information with the public, in layman terms and as concisely as possible.

No outside funds are received to support this website. However, we do raise funds for specific projects. Normally, these are educational projects to raise awareness of the issues, such as the 2013 San Clemente Nuclear Waste Symposium, where independent experts educated the public on nuclear waste issues affecting us.  We also work with local, state and federal elected officials and regulators to help improve our safety from a nuclear disaster. They frequently are not informed or are misinformed on critical nuclear energy and nuclear waste issues — just like the rest of the public.  We work with the local Sierra Clubs and worked with Friends of the Earth in their efforts to shut San Onofre. However, we are independent from these organizations.

• www.sanclementegreen.com
• www.sanonofre.com
• www.acehoffman.org
• www.residentsorganizedforasafeenvironment.wordpress.com (ROSE)
• SOS Laguna Woods
• SOS Solana Beach

Please share this information with others. We need a more informed public in order to improve our chances of avoiding a nuclear disaster. If you have information regarding other safety issues or would like to become more involved in the effort to make California safer from a nuclear disaster, please contact me. You can also receive email posts by following this website.

Donna Gilmore, Founder, SanOnofreSafety.org 

About me: I’ve lived in San Clemente for many years and always assumed the San Onofre nuclear plant was managed as safe as possible.  However, after reading reports in the local newspapers that employees are harassed and even fired for reporting unresolved safety issues to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) or to the public, I investigated further. I could not believe such a story might be true. To my shock and dismay, the stories were true. My research on nuclear waste shows there are no good solutions to store the nuclear waste. However, we must find the safest solutions possible and as soon as possible, which is currently not being done. One of my priorities is to continue working with nuclear engineers and others who put safety over industry profits, and to continue my research in this area.

My objective is to be a watchdog and educator to the public on this issue and other safety-related issues.  The NRC is a captured regulatory agency, so it’s up to the public to help bring these critical issues to the forefront. There are good employees at the NRC, but they need our help to support those recommendations that put safety above industry profits. As you can see from my Nuclear Waste research, the opposite is happening.

My background includes systems analysis, programming, database design, project management, legislative analysis, human resources, and management of a large data center for engineers. I understand the value of effective disaster planning and the value of open, positive communications with employees. To succeed, employees need to feel free to bring issues to management — without fear of reprisal.

The NRC consistently reports San Onofre has the worst safety culture and has an on-going problem of “…not making conservative assumptions in their decision-making…”  This should not be tolerated at a nuclear plant!   In addition, the NRC also has a “safety culture” problem.

I love living in San Clemente and want to do whatever I can to make this city and the rest of our communities as safe as possible from a nuclear disaster. That will not happen without public involvement.

Gilmore Biography