11/05/2012 Huntington Beach City Council meeting – San Onofre on agenda

Posted on November 2, 2012 by Donna Gilmore

The San Onofre nuclear power plant is on the Huntington Beach City Council agenda for Monday, November 5, 2012. The meeting begins at 6 p.m. San Onofre is Item #23 on the agenda addendum. Public comments are at the beginning of the meeting.

Council member Connie Boardman is recommending the City Council draft a resolution similar to that of Laguna Beach.

Location
Huntington Beach City Council Chambers
2000 Main Street
Huntington Beach, CA 92648
.

Please attend to show your support. It is not necessary to speak. The larger the crowd, the more effective we can be.

Public Comments: The public comments portion of the meeting is at the beginning of the meeting. During Public Comments anyone may address the City Council on any issue for a maximum of three minutes. If you are planning to speak, please arrive early and fill out a speaker card. If you have a Power Point presentation, bring the file on your thumb drive.

City Council Meetings: The City Council meets the first and third Monday of each month. The televised portion of the City Council meeting starts at approximately 6 P.M. and can be viewed on cable television on channel 3. Council meetings are webcast live and also archived on the city’s website. The City Council meetings are rebroadcast on the city’s cable television station (cable channel 3) Tuesday at 10 am and Wednesday at 7 pm.

City Council Office: The City Council’s office is located on the fourth floor of City Hall at 2000 Main Street, Huntington Beach, CA 92648. The City Council’s Administrative Assistant can be reached at 714-536-5553, the fax number is 714-536-5233.

In addition, please contact the City Council members and urge them to draft a resolution similar to Laguna Beach. Also, share any other information about San Onofre that you find compelling.

Commissioners

    • Connie Boardman: connie.boardman@surfcity-hb.org
    • Joe Shaw:  joe.shaw@surfcity-hb.org
    • Mathew Harper:  matthew.harper@surfcity-hb.org
    • Devin Dwyer:  devin.dwyer@surfcity-hb.org
    • Don Hansen:  dhansen@surfcity-hb.org
    • Keith Bohr:  kbohr@surfcity-hb.org
    • Joe Carchio:  jcarchio@surfcity-hb.org
    • Email communication to the council members should also include a copy to City Council Administrative Assistant, Cathy Fikes:  cfikes@surfcity-hb.org

Recommend the Commissioners:

  • Urge the Nuclear Regulator Commission to not allow restart of San Onofre until and unless Southern California Edison completes a license amendment process with a public, transparent hearing to determine the safety of the restart plan.
  • Urge the California Public Utilities Commission to:
    • Expedite the OII [Order of Investigation] regarding the financial status and viability of San Onofre to protect the ratepayers; and
    • Not hold ratepayers responsible for errors which led to faulty replacement steam generators being installed, outage expenses, and the need for repair expenses; and
    • Provide additional incentives and programs to support the rapid installation of new power generation, power savings, and grid stabilizing technologies; and
    • Prioritize efficiency and renewable energy resources whenever possible.
Posted in Action Alert, City Council, Events, How to Help | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

10/25/2012 Irvine CPUC meeting – San Onofre on agenda

Posted on October 23, 2012 by Donna Gilmore

Please attend October 25th California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) meeting to share your concerns about San Onofre nuclear power plant costs and reliability.   CAUTION: The CPUC has no jurisdiction over nuclear power plant safety.  Therefore, it’s important to limit your discussion to cost and reliability concerns.  (See recent federal court decision overruling Vermont’s authority to shut down their Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant.)

Location:  Irvine City Council Chambers, 1 Civic Center Plaza, Irvine, CA  92606

Time:  9:00 AM.  Arrive before 8:45 AM to sign up for public comment. The Commission may discuss agenda items out of order, so we do not know what time they will hear Agenda Item 34 (San Onofre).

Public Comment: Public comment is only allowed at the beginning of the meeting. Deadline to sign up for public comments is 8:45 AM.

Press Conference outside city council chambers:  11:30 AM.  (est.)

Press conference may be delayed if the CPUC is still hearing the San Onofre agenda item.   The CPUC restricts public input by disallowing any public comment at the meeting except at the initial public comment period and also by rule that any member of the public may only make one comment on any issue. Thus, many members of the activist community will be speaking at the press conference. Press Release 10/25/2012

Message to the CPUC from Edison and SDG&E Ratepayers

It’s time to cut our losses and permanently shut down the defective San Onofre nuclear reactors.

    • Edison’s plan to restart (even at partial power) defective and damaged equipment is unacceptable. This is not a prudent or reasonable plan for ensuring cost effective and reliable power.
    • Forcing customers to pay potentially billions of dollars for Edison’s aging and crippled nuclear reactors is unacceptable. Edison and SDG&E customers already have some of the highest electricity rates in California and the nation.
    • The CPUC investigation should analyze costs and reliability through the current license period. This will show that Edison’s mismanaged, defective and aging nuclear reactors are a bad investment for California ratepayers.
    • Near-term replacements for San Onofre power should emphasize reducing demand, and strengthening energy efficiency and renewable options. This would address economic and environmental impacts from the San Onofre outage.
    • OII proceedings regarding San Onofre should be conducted in the area most impacted by the decisions of these proceedings, particularly the pre-hearing conference.

Copy of message to the CPUC – with important expanded details

Letter to CPUC from Del Mar City Council 10/23/2012

Resources

Agenda Item 34 – San Onofre [11659]

The CPUC draft Order Instituting Investigation (OII) is 25 pages (excluding attachments).

      • Attachment A:  7/18/2012  San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station – NRC Augmented Inspection Team Report.
      • Attachment B: Adopted Schedule for the OII.

Agenda Description

New Order Instituting Investigation [OII]

I.____________  Order Instituting Investigation on the Commission’s Own Motion into the Rates, Operations, Practices, Services and Facilities of Southern California Edison Company and San Diego Gas and Electric Company Associated with the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station Units 2 and 3.

PROPOSED OUTCOME:

Pursuant to the provisions of Public Utilities Code Section 455.5, the Commission opens this investigation to consolidate and consider issues raised by the extended outage of units 2 and 3 of the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station. The Commission may issue orders based on this investigation to address ratemaking and other matters under our jurisdiction.

COST: None

Draft OII: http://docs.cpuc.ca.gov/SearchRes.aspx?docformat=ALL&docid=30513811

News Reports

The new steam generators are designed to last longer, said Mike Wharton, manager of the steam-generator replacement project. “They are designed for 40 years,” he said. “We expect we’ll actually be able to get 60 years out of them … better materials, better design. You learn over the course of years what works well and what doesn’t, and you try to build it into the next generation.”

For more than eight months, ratepayers of Southern California Edison have been paying $54 million a month — a per-customer average of more than $10 — for a nuclear power plant that has been delivering no electricity. This situation should never have been allowed to drag on for so long.

Ratepayers have been paying for the costs of replacing the steam generators and have continued paying for the plant’s capital and operating costs despite the fact that it is producing no power. According to the commission proposal, Edison and SDG&E are collecting $1.1 billion a year from ratepayers for costs relating to the plant.

The organization that runs California’s energy grid is planning ahead in case the San Onofre nuclear plant remains out of commission in the summer of 2013.

Thanks to a thoroughly botched $770-million equipment “upgrade,” the plant hasn’t been online since January and may not operate ever again. The best-case scenario is that it might get restarted sometime around the end of this year or early next, but there’s no guarantee that it will run at full strength even then.  Meanwhile, the ratepayers keep paying. Over the more than six months that San Onofre has been dark, the bill has come to $25 for every Californian in its service district, man, woman and child. The old adage that “you get what you pay for” apparently doesn’t apply in Edisonland.

Posted in Action Alert, CPUC, Events, nuclear power, Once-Through Cooling (OTC), SDG&E, Southern California Edison, Steam Generator | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

California plans for 7.8 earthquake but ignores San Onofre nuclear plant 7.0 design limit

Posted on October 18, 2012 by Donna Gilmore

Drop, Cover, and Hold On graphic

California seismic planners want us to “drop, cover and hold on” as part of their Great ShakeOut earthquake drill for the expected and overdue 7.8 magnitude earthquake, yet they ignore the fact Southern California’s San Onofre nuclear power plant is designed for a 7.0 earthquake.  A 7.8 earthquake is 6 times more powerful than what San Onofre is designed to withstand.

San Onofre Nuclear Reactors graphicOur public officials need to learn the lessons of Fukushima.  Japan’s Fukushima nuclear reactors are still in meltdown, spreading radiation throughout the world and making large portions of Japan permanently uninhabitable.

    • Lesson #1: Earthquakes (not just tsunamis) can cause a nuclear catastrophe.
    • Lesson #2: Nuclear catastrophes result in ruined lives and abandoned cities.
    • Lesson #3: Nuclear catastrophes can be prevented if early warnings are heeded.

Please contact your public officials and request they take action to ensure the safety of our community.

For a quick way to email them, go to www.TheGreatFallout.org

For other ways you can help and to locate contact information for your elected officials, go to the Volunteer section of the SanOnofreSafety.org website. Use this sample letter or modify to send your own personalized message.

Sample letter for your public officials

I am very concerned about the impact a major earthquake may have on our community, and I support efforts to ensure residents and businesses are well prepared for such an event. The Great California ShakeOut is an important component of ensuring community members know the risks and respond appropriately to help minimize the danger to themselves and others during a major seismic event. However, I was deeply troubled to learn that the Great California ShakeOut earthquake drill completely ignores the risk of an earthquake-induced nuclear accident at the San Onofre nuclear reactor site – a very real threat to the safety of our community since these reactors are not built to withstand an earthquake of the magnitude the faults around it may produce.

The San Onofre nuclear reactor site was built to withstand an earthquake of an approximately 7.0 magnitude. ShakeOut drill planners use the United States Geological Survey (USGS) estimates for a 7.8 quake – that is more than six times the force of a 7.0 quake. The Newport/Inglewood fault is only 4 miles out to sea from San Onofre. According to the USGS this specific fault has a potential for a 7.5 to 8.0 earthquake. We do not need more seismic studies to tell us there is reason to be concerned.

As a civic leader, I respectfully request that you take action to ensure the safety of our community. San Onofre is currently offline due to severely damaged equipment. Edison proposes to restart one of the reactors to see how well it holds up without doing any repairs. They risk our well being while they gamble with damaged equipment which may now be even more vulnerable to earthquakes. Ensuring public safety requires an open transparent process and expert testimony before an independent judge.

I urge you to join others who have made calls, written letters of support or introduced resolutions like those recently passed in Del Mar, Laguna Beach, Santa Monica and other others requesting the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) require Southern California Edison submit to the requisite license amendment process and an adjudicatory hearing before they are allowed to restart either reactor.

California’s electricity grid operator has plans to take us through another hot summer without San Onofre.  Now is the time to move to a safe, clean, reliable and cost-effective energy future. The aging, expensive and damaged San Onofre nuclear reactors are none of these things. Replacing San Onofre with energy efficiency programs and diversified renewables is not only safer, but also makes far more economic sense. We need to invest in the future, not in a dangerous nuclear reactor site built with five decade old designs.

For more information, including government and scientific documentation, go to SanOnofreSafety.org.

Posted in Action Alert, California ISO, City Council, Earthquake, Emergency Planning, Energy Options, Fukushima, How to Help, NRC, SDG&E, Southern California Edison, Steam Generator | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Union of Concerned Scientists questions restart of San Onofre Unit 2 nuclear reactor

Posted on October 14, 2012 by Donna Gilmore

Union of Concerned Scientists has serious concerns about Southern California Edison’s (SCE) restart plans for San Onofre Unit 2. In a 10/12/2012 letter submitted to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), David Lochbaum, Director, Nuclear Safety Project, identified the following issues:

  1. Unit 2 replacement steam generator 2SG89 has significantly more wear indications per number of supports than does [Unit 2] replacement steam generator 2SG88. Until the reason for this marked difference between the wear degradation for the Unit 2 replacement steam generators is understood, the operational assessment performed for future operation is suspect. [See graph in Lochbaum letter].
  2. Since all four replacement steam generators came from the same manufacturer, were of the same design, made of the same materials, assembled using the same procedures, and operated under nearly identical conditions in twin reactors, the reason for this marked difference is unclear… [the] explanation is not well documented and therefore appears to be more convenient than factual.
  3. The document states that the owner will “administratively limit Unit 2 to 70% reactor power prior to a mid-cycle” outage to inspect the replacement steam generators. What are the legal consequences if the reactor power were to increase to 75%, 85% or 100% power? The NRC has licensed San Onofre Unit 2 to operate at 100% power. What would legally prevent the owner from restarting Unit 2 and increasing its output to the NRC licensed limit? The NRC’s enforcement program includes sanctions when its regulations are violated, but nothing for broken promises. If the NRC agrees that reactor operation at less than 100 percent power is warranted, it should enforce that reduction with an order or comparable legally-enforceable document.
  4. Table 8-1 of Enclosure 2 and its accompanying text attempt to explain how operating Unit 2 at 70% power will prevent the tube-to-tube wear (TTW) experienced on Unit 3 by comparing it to an anonymous reactor (called Plant A). ..reliance on one suspect data point (Plant A) is hardly solid justification for operation and 70% power being acceptable.
  5. There is no justification in this 80-plus page document for an operating duration of 150 days.
  6. … there are no legal means compelling the plant’s owner to shut down Unit 2 after 150 days of operation at or above 15% power.
  7. ...a temporary nitrogen-16 radiation detection system will be installed prior to the Unit 2 startup. However, there is no commitment to use it after startup, or to keep it in service should it stop functioning. The detection system is proposed as a defense-in-depth measure, but there is no assurance it will be operated.
  8. Attachment 6 to Enclosure 2 has proprietary information redacted. Section 1.4 of Enclosure 2 states that the owner used AREVA, Westinghouse Electric Company LLC, and Intertek/APTECH to review the operational assessment. At least one of these companies manufactures replacement steam generators and would therefore be a competitor to Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI), which made the replacement steam generators for San Onofre. If the owner did not withhold the proprietary information from MHI’s competitors, why withhold it at all? If SCE did withhold the proprietary information from these reviewers, what is the value of their independent, but limited, review?

Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) Confirmatory Action Letter (CAL) dated March 27, 2012, (ADAMS Accession No. ML12087A323). required the owner of the San Onofre nuclear plant to submit to the NRC its report on the root cause of degradation to the replacement steam generator tubes and to keep both reactors shut down until the NRC reviewed and agreed with the root cause determination.

SCE submitted an 80-plus page report dated October 3, 2012, describing the causes of the steam generator tube degradation and proposing compensatory measures if the NRC permits Unit 2 to restart.

However, Lockbaum questions whether the root cause has been properly identified.  He states

“…when reactor safety problems rise to the point where an owner must submit a formal root cause report to the NRC, it is a prudent public health practice that these reports be submitted prior to restarting the affected reactors. If the cause of the degradation has not been properly identified, then the solutions applied to the wrong cause may not adequately protect the public.”

The issues raised by Lockbaum must be address by the NRC.  Restarting a broken nuclear reactor is unacceptable.

Posted in NRC, nuclear power, SDG&E, Southern California Edison, Steam Generator | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 10 Comments

Press release and handouts 10/9/2012 NRC San Onofre public meeting

Posted on October 9, 2012 by Donna Gilmore

No risky restart says public at today’s NRC meeting on San Onofre.  NRC License amendment process and adjudicatory evidentiary hearing demanded to ensure safety.

Edison’s plan to restart the Unit 2 nuclear reactor safely is to watch for radiation leaks. That’s not a safety plan. That’s a nuclear experiment.

Restarting San Onofre with the the most defective steam generators in the nation is a recipe for nuclear disaster. We just went through nine months and a hot summer without any nuclear power — why take the risk when we don’t need the energy?

The new steam generators are designed to last longer, said Mike Wharton, manager of the steam-generator replacement project. “They are designed for 40 years,” he said. “We expect we’ll actually be able to get 60 years out of them … better materials, better design. You learn over the course of years what works well and what doesn’t, and you try to build it into the next generation.”

Posted in California ISO, CPUC, Friends of the Earth, How to Help, NRC, nuclear power, Press Release, Safety Allegations, San Clemente Green, SDG&E, Southern California Edison, Steam Generator | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Edison’s safety plan to restart San Onofre is to watch for radiation leaks

Posted on October 4, 2012 by Donna Gilmore

Southern California Edison’s safety plan to restart San Onofre nuclear reactor Unit 2 is to watch for radiation leaks.  They don’t know how to fix the reactor, so they’re just going to slow it down and see what happens.  Don’t allow Edison to make Southern California a nuclear experiment. Please attend the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) public meeting on October 9th in Dana Point at the St Regis (6 pm) and demand an NRC License Amendment hearing. This thorough scientific investigation would include independent nuclear experts who would be allowed to review all data available, submit their own conclusions for consideration, and allow them to cross examine industry experts in a judicial hearing in which sworn testimony is given under oath.

San Onofre has the most defective steam generators in the nation. Edison said they were supposed to last 40 years, yet they failed within two years. The NRC says the only way to know if steam generators are not working correctly is if they release radiation.

The NRC has a history of lowering safety standards to keep old nuclear plants running.  Don’t allow them to do this to us. Failed steam generators can lead to a nuclear disaster.

We had no blackouts this summer with San Onofre off-line. And our electricity grid operator has plans to avoid blackouts next year.  Why live with this risk for energy we don’t need?

Steam Generator Plugged Tube Chart
Summary of Steam Generator Problems
Southern California Edison Submits Response to Confirmatory Action Letter and Unit 2 Restart Plans to Nuclear Regulatory Commission 10/4/2012
CBG Study Shows Safety of Restarting Either Unit 2 or 3 is Questionable 9/12/2012
San Onofre’s Steam Generators: Significantly Worse than all Others Nationwide 7/11/2012
Steam Generator Tubes Plugged Chart
Tube Wear Chart CBG
NRC data. Tube wear chart prepared by Committee to Bridge the Gap
“San Onofre Unit 2 and 3 are both very ill nuclear plants.  They are far, far outside the norm of national experience,” writes Daniel Hirsch, steam generator report co-author.  “Restarting either San Onofre reactor with crippled steam generators that have not been repaired or replaced would be a questionable undertaking at best.”  Hirsch is President of the Committee to Bridge the Gap.
Posted in Action Alert, California ISO, How to Help, NRC, Press Release, Radiation Monitoring, SDG&E, Southern California Edison, Steam Generator | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

9/26/2012 Encinitas City Council Meeting

Posted on September 23, 2012 by Donna Gilmore

San Onofre is Item 6 on the agenda for the September 26, 2012 6:00 p.m. Encinitas City Council Meeting.

Council Chambers
505 South Vulcan Avenue, Encinitas, California 92024

Contact information for City Council members can be found at this link.

Agenda Item 6 (San Onofre)

    • Presentation by the San Diego County Office of Emergency Services on the San Onofre Nuclear Generation Station Emergency Response Plan.
    • Consideration of a draft letter to federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission and federal legislators expressing public safety concerns, including the following language:

It is of the utmost importance that all measures be taken to assure the complete and total safety of the SONGS facility, both mechanically and operationally, before any consideration is given to permitting reactivation, up to and including consideration of deactivation of the facility.

    • STAFF RECOMMENDATION: Receive information, review draft letter and provide direction.

Agenda Attachment – City Manager Report, San Diego Emergency Services Presentation, Draft Letter to NRC Chair, Notice of 10/9/2012 NRC meeting

Posted in Action Alert, City Council, Emergency Planning, Events, NRC | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

09/24/2012 Del Mar City Council Meeting

Posted on September 23, 2012 by Donna Gilmore

The Del Mar City Council unanimously passed Resolution 2012-57 regarding San Onofre to:

    • Urge the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission to require that Edison undergo a public, transparent license amendment hearing regarding the replacement steam generators, before the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station is allowed to restart; and
    • Strongly support the California Public Utilities Commission in:
      • expeditiously initiating and completing an Order Instituting Investigation regarding the costs and reliability of the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station, and
      • comparing the reliability and costs of the San Onofre facility to a future based on alternatives, including efficiency, load management, demand response, renewable energy, and energy storage.

See signed copy of Del Mar Resolution 2012-57 regarding San Onofre.

——————————————————————————————-

City Of Del Mar
1050 Camino del Mar, Del Mar, CA 92014
858-755-9313
cityhall@delmar.ca.us
.

September 24, 2012 6:00 p.m. Del Mar City Council meeting.

Agenda Item 4 San Onofre 

SAN ONOFRE NUCLEAR GENERATING STATION (SONGS) FOLLOW-UP, INCLUDING PRESENTATION REGARDING SONGS’ STEAM GENERATORS, AND STORAGE AND SAFETY.  Recommended Action for City Council:

    • Receive presentation from Daniel 0. Hirsch, Lecturer on Nuclear Policy at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and President of Committee to Bridge the Gap
    • Receive presentation from Southern California Edison representing the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station
    • Receive public input
    • Determine whether to take a position regarding the restart of the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Reactors and/or adopt the proposed resolution expressing the City’s position.
Agenda Item 4 (San Onofre) and Attachments
9/12/2012 Dan Hirsch Committee to Bridge the Gap Steam Generator Press Release
9/12/2012 CBG Report: FAR OUTSIDE THE NORM: The San Onofre Nuclear Plant’s Steam Generator Problems
 

NOTE: Recent earthquake news

Magnitude 5.3 Near Brawley, CA: 2:05 pm, 8/26/2012

San Diego County residents may have felt the 5.3 magnitude earthquake that shook just outside Brawley, CA.  The Intensity Maps are showing the earthquake as a II-III (Weak shaking/no damage) with San Diego County at a II or III.

An “Unusual Event” was declared at San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station at 12:39 PM for Units 2 & 3. The Event Code is HU 1.1 (Seismic Event) and no protective action recommendations were made. Additionally, there has not been a radioactive release associated to the event.  At this time the plant has reported no damage due to the earthquake.

      • What would the city and Edison have done if this had been an 8.0 earthquake? San Onofre is designed for a 7.0, but USGS rates the nearby faults at 7.5 to 8.0.  An 8.0 is 10 times stronger than a 7.0.  
      • Steam generator tubes are vibrating WITHOUT AN EARTHQUAKE. What earthquake rating do they have now?
Posted in Action Alert, City Council, Events, Southern California Edison, Steam Generator | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

10/9/2012 NRC San Onofre meeting in Southern California

Posted on September 21, 2012 by Donna Gilmore

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) will hold a public meeting to discuss the status of its oversight of the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station and respond to questions about current plant issues.

Both San Onofre nuclear reactors have been off-line since January 2012 due to a radiation leak and unprecedented premature wear in newly replaced steam generators.

Southern California Edison submitted a proposal to restart reactor Unit 2 without first repairing the defects.

Date:  October 9, 2012  6 – 9:30 p.m.
Location:   
     St. Regis Monarch Beach Hotel
     One Monarch Beach Resort, Dana Point, CA
Parking fee:
     $10 valet parking or $5 self-parking.  
     Arriving early is recommended.  Self-parking may be limited. 
.

The first part of the meeting will be a facilitated roundtable discussion on topics of significant public interest. The second part of the meeting will be a question and answer session between the NRC and the public on topics related to San Onofre and the NRC’s regulatory process.

Representatives for the roundtable are being chosen by the NRC in consultation with local interest groups. Members have not been chosen yet.

The NRC is making arrangements to webcast the meeting and will provide additional details at a later date.

“We want to provide members of the public with an opportunity to get their questions answered on a broad range of topics related to San Onofre,” said Region IV Administrator Elmo E. Collins. “We think the roundtable discussion along with an open question and answer session will provide people with a means of doing this.”

NRC Contacts:
     Victor Dricks (817) 200-1128
     Lara Uselding (817) 200-1519
     E-Mail: OPA4.Resource@nrc.gov
 
NRC Notice of 10/9/2012 Public Meeting (revised 10/4/2012)
NRC – Meeting the Challenges of the Next SONGS Meeting — Updated
San Onofre Steam Generator Issues
Posted in Action Alert, Events, NRC, Southern California Edison, Steam Generator | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

09-24-2012 Sacramento – Fish and Game public meeting on whale killing seismic surveys

Posted on September 9, 2012 by Donna Gilmore

The California Fish and Game Commission will hold a public meeting Monday, September 24th, 2012, at 10:00 am in Sacramento to address PG&E’s proposed high-energy seismic surveys.  These surveys will maim and kill large numbers of whales, dolphins, seals, sea lions, otters, and other marine life with high sonic sounds, according to the Environmental Impact Report.

Similar seismic surveys are planned for San Onofre in November 2012 by Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego

Meeting Location:
Resources Building, First Floor Auditorium
1416 Ninth Street, Sacramento, CA 
 
Agenda:
http://www.fgc.ca.gov/meetings/2012/092412agd.pdf

.

Tell Fish and Game Commissioners the surveys are unnecessary and harmful.

    • USGS says no scientist can predict the size of an earthquake and both California nuclear plants already sit near major earthquake faults. USGS Pasadena seismologist Dr. Lucy Jones said in a recent interview:

“The information about how big an earthquake’s going to be may not be in the earth’s crust BEFORE the earthquake begins.”

See her 9/2/2012 ABC interview and related information here.

    • California has 40% excess power without California’s nuclear power plants. See details here.
    • According to independent journalist Dave Gurney on noyonews.net:

Each of these underwater blasts will be at the volume level of a shock wave, that will instantly deafen, maim and possibly kill everything unfortunate enough to be in its path. A 240 dB blast is reportedly like being one foot away from the mouth of a large cannon. For a human, your ears, or what’s left of your ears, would probably never stop ringing. The consequences of experiencing this level of sound can only be presumed to be immediate and permanent deafness – if not worse. For sea life, beyond just broken eardrums, the transfer of low-frequency shock waves from water-air-water causes hemorrhaging of lungs and air-sacks, and will result in the death of marine mammals – whales, dolphins, seals, sea lions and otters – and fish.

“… seismic testing is a threat not only to whales, but to all of us, because it allows PG&E to delay removal of the nuclear plant from the earthquake fault.”

Seismic studies are scheduled to start in November 2012.

Please ask California state representatives to help ensure approval is denied for these unnecessary studies.

Additional Resources

Posted in Action Alert, California Coastal Commission, Earthquake, Events, Fish and Game, How to Help, Marine Life, PG&E, Southern California Edison, USGS | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment