San Onofre – Another Nuclear Disaster Waiting to Happen?
By James Donahue
May 30, 2017
The San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS) is a massive three-generating plant complex located right on the Pacific Coast in San Diego County. Because of radioactive leaks and other problems the facility has been shut down on an “emergency basis” since 2012. But the place is filled with millions of pounds of highly radioactive waste that remains a constant threat to the eight million people living within 50 miles of the facility and millions more living in nearby San Clemente, San Diego and adjoining communities.
The first of the three generating plants was completed and it went on line in 1968. Unit 2 was started in 1983 and the third unit came on line the following year. The plants were all shut down after “upgrades” in over 3,000 steam generator tubes began failing one year after they were installed. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is investigating the issue. In the meantime the plants are going through the slow process of being decommissioned.
The problem now is what is to be done with all of that radioactive debris sitting idle in those three plants. Environmental activists are keeping a close eye on the joint owners, Southern California Edison, San Diego Gas & Electric and the City of Riverside, to make sure the stuff is property disposed of. And that means it must be taken somewhere else than a dump site in or near San Diego County.
When the California Coastal Commission issued a permit to allow storage of 3.6 million pounds of the nuke waste in stainless steel containers within 100 feet of the ocean, a citizen's group called Citizen’s Oversight went to court. The lawsuit is challenging the expansion of the nuclear waste storage already occurring on the plant site.
After Fukushima the folks in and around San Onofre are desperately trying to prevent a disaster like that from happening on the home front. Indeed, the plants were built not only on the Pacific beach front, but within close range to various tectonic fault lines. Southern California Edison assures the public that the station was “built to withstand a 7.0 magnitude earthquake” and there exists a 25-foot wall designed to protect the plant from a tsunami if one ever comes.
It should be of concern to know that the Fukushima disaster was caused first by a 9.0 magnitude earthquake with at least 5 more aftershocks that were 5.0 magnitude or higher. The tsunami that followed was 50 feet high.
Bob Nichols, who reports regularly for “Radiation This Week” notes that unusually high radiation counts are being recorded at various sites all over the United States and especially around operating and even the inactive nuke generating plants. There are 104 such sites in the U.S. San Diego always records a high reading of over 1,000 counts for at least 70 hours at a time. Nichols says a normal reading should only be between 5 and 20 counts.
Just having a nuke plant in the neighborhood is extremely dangerous for the people living nearby. Nichols explains that every nuclear electric generating plant must release a build-up of toxic pressure for a short time every day when they are operating. This release is laced with 1,946 different radioactive isotopes.
By James Donahue
May 30, 2017
The San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS) is a massive three-generating plant complex located right on the Pacific Coast in San Diego County. Because of radioactive leaks and other problems the facility has been shut down on an “emergency basis” since 2012. But the place is filled with millions of pounds of highly radioactive waste that remains a constant threat to the eight million people living within 50 miles of the facility and millions more living in nearby San Clemente, San Diego and adjoining communities.
The first of the three generating plants was completed and it went on line in 1968. Unit 2 was started in 1983 and the third unit came on line the following year. The plants were all shut down after “upgrades” in over 3,000 steam generator tubes began failing one year after they were installed. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is investigating the issue. In the meantime the plants are going through the slow process of being decommissioned.
The problem now is what is to be done with all of that radioactive debris sitting idle in those three plants. Environmental activists are keeping a close eye on the joint owners, Southern California Edison, San Diego Gas & Electric and the City of Riverside, to make sure the stuff is property disposed of. And that means it must be taken somewhere else than a dump site in or near San Diego County.
When the California Coastal Commission issued a permit to allow storage of 3.6 million pounds of the nuke waste in stainless steel containers within 100 feet of the ocean, a citizen's group called Citizen’s Oversight went to court. The lawsuit is challenging the expansion of the nuclear waste storage already occurring on the plant site.
After Fukushima the folks in and around San Onofre are desperately trying to prevent a disaster like that from happening on the home front. Indeed, the plants were built not only on the Pacific beach front, but within close range to various tectonic fault lines. Southern California Edison assures the public that the station was “built to withstand a 7.0 magnitude earthquake” and there exists a 25-foot wall designed to protect the plant from a tsunami if one ever comes.
It should be of concern to know that the Fukushima disaster was caused first by a 9.0 magnitude earthquake with at least 5 more aftershocks that were 5.0 magnitude or higher. The tsunami that followed was 50 feet high.
Bob Nichols, who reports regularly for “Radiation This Week” notes that unusually high radiation counts are being recorded at various sites all over the United States and especially around operating and even the inactive nuke generating plants. There are 104 such sites in the U.S. San Diego always records a high reading of over 1,000 counts for at least 70 hours at a time. Nichols says a normal reading should only be between 5 and 20 counts.
Just having a nuke plant in the neighborhood is extremely dangerous for the people living nearby. Nichols explains that every nuclear electric generating plant must release a build-up of toxic pressure for a short time every day when they are operating. This release is laced with 1,946 different radioactive isotopes.