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…sent our way this morning – Saturday morning – from “San Clemente Green, Citizens for a Sustainable Future” :
Dear Jerry,
I have some interesting facts for you about what is going on today regarding San Onofre nuclear reactors.
1
Starting today (Saturday Oct. 20) Unit 2 will be run at full capacity with highly radioactive water flowing through the damaged tubes in the steam generators for the next 5 days!
This dangerous experiment is allowed by the NRC because the reactors are not actually being activated. Instead, they will use huge heat generating pumps to simulate running the system at 100%. Without repairing the problem, Edison is experimenting with a defective nuclear reactor just to see what happens.
This fact was first brought to our attention by someone who is working on unit 2 presently and found this risk to be unacceptable. It is a little-known fact that we had serious problems with the new reactor head because of the more prominent issues with the defective steam generators, (see specifics on the message from the whistleblower below).
This has since been confirmed by Greg Warnick (greg.warnick@nrc.gov), NRC’s Chief Inspector on site. On Friday, he told me that this information was accurate. Unit 2 had several leaks in the new reactor head which was installed during the scheduled shutdown prior to the leak in Unit 3. He said that this is the only way for Edison to know if they have fixed the leaks in the many connections and fittings associated with the reactor head. He did not have the same level of concern about the defective steam tubes bursting as did our friend who is working on this project right now.
Should we be concerned? I’m not sure, but I do think the public has a right to be informed about things like this in advance, and not covertly by someone afraid of losing his job.
Here is what he told me over the phone…
“Things are pretty bad here at the plant; Edison just hired a ‘union-busting hot shot lawyer’ and everyone is too afraid of losing their jobs to talk about anything that could make the company look worse, especially right now. I’m afraid of losing my job too, but my family and I also live ten miles away and I care more about them than anything else.
“We are working on Unit 2, bringing it up from Mode 5 to 4 and we are preparing to go from Mode 4 to 3 by the weekend of the 20th. They brought in the Aux. boiler, assigned 12 hour shifts, and they are making damn sure that no steam leaves the domes for fear the public will catch on.
“I can’t believe how audacious they are, but for all practical purposes, they are going to restart Unit 2 – which still is highly radioactive – without the NRC thoroughly reviewing Edison’s application that was just submitted. Their motivation is to see if they fixed the new reactor head which leaked profusely the first time they tried it. They don’t want anything holding them back from actually restarting when they get the green light from the NRC.
“The NRC’s Confirmatory Action Letter allows them to take it up to Mode 3 because the reactor is not “critical”, (fission reaction is on hold). They are trying to beat the clock before time runs out on them and the CPUC (California Public Utility Commission) sticks Edison with the cost of the outage instead of the ratepayers.”
2
Coincidentally, while this is going on, an an emergency preparedness meeting is taking place today in San Clemente. All the experts will converge to discuss disaster preparedness. I am going there to talk about Unit 2 “restarting” today and to see that they don’t merely gloss over the topic of sheltering in place. If there is a radioactive plume coming our way we need to be able to get by on our own for weeks, not days.
Will they discuss how to decontaminate yourself and prevent ingestion of radioactive particle that will remain in your body the rest of your life? Will they discuss the need for enough plastic and duct tape to seal your home after an earthquake shatters all the windows? We have other important questions we hope to get discussed in this forum. I hope you can join us for what will hopefully be an informative and perhaps even a lifesaving event.
Thousands of letters have been sent to our elected officials, but more are still needed to make sure they hear us loud and clear.
We are simply requesting that they support our reasonable expectation that the decision regarding the fate of the nuclear reactors at San Onofre should be done in a court-like setting. We can’t allow the NRC to make this decision alone because they are the ones who have failed us in the past.
The Great California ShakeOut reminds us once again that our government agencies prefer to ignore the possibility of a radioactive disaster. This is a critical point in time where we need to be heard loud and clear. Tell our Public Servants that we want our safety to come first. An adjudicated license amendment hearing is the best way to make sure of that.
Please send a letter to 88 civic leaders
INSTANTLY and get others to do so as well.
GO TO:
thegreatfallout.org
Be sure to use all the social media we provide there too!
California Public Utility Commission (CPUC)
meeting on 10-25
Please attend to show support for a CPUC investigation into the financial aspects concerning the future of San Onofre. If approved, ratepayers will be given protection from unwarranted expenses and a clear choice about investing in truly clean, safe and sustainable alternatives. It will only take a small part of your morning to stand with us for this critical decision to start the investigation immediately.
The meeting will be held on Thursday, October 25, 8:30 a.m., at Irvine City Hall, Council Chambers, 1 Civic Center Plaza, Irvine, CA 92606.
Public comment will only be taken at the first part of the meeting, but just being there is all that really matters, (don’t feel like you have to say anything). You don’t need to stay any longer than an hour at most. There are not many people that can take off on a workday to do something like this, so if you are one of the lucky few, we need you to make the extra effort. If you want to carpool, email gary@sanclementegreen.org and we’ll try to set it up for all who are interested.
Didn’t see this story in the Register or the Times.
They seem to have little regard for the public’s right to knowing how they run that operation.
If there’s one thing I hate, it’s our being a better source of information on county news than the Register or the Times.
I hate it and yet love it…
I received this email from Gary Headrick with the San Clemente Greens this morning and instead of paraphrasing his commenst, I decided to post as is.
Here is an update regarding our concerns at San Onofre from FOE. I personally spoke with Greg Warnick, Chief On-site Inspector this morning, who explained that this is an on-going situation with a pressure valve which indicated it was losing hydrogen. It is outside, making it less likely to be a fire hazard or explosion. It has been exposed to the harsh marine environment for several years resulting in a heavily corroded fixture. They are afraid of tightening it down while under pressure because it could make things worse. They will have it isolated later today when they can replace the valve. It is not clear if this has anything to do with the fact that they are currently bringing Unit 2 up to “Normal Operating Temperature” (NOT – 535 degrees) and “Normal Operating Pressure” (NOP – 2200 PSI), by using external pumps (not the reactor). This testing is being allowed by the NRC, regardless of some potential dangers as reported by a whistle-blower on October 9.
Please be sure to send more than 80 letters to decision makers within 50 miles of San Onofre, including mayors, supervisors and legislators. Copy/Paste this link:
http://www.thegreatfallout.org/?utm_source=Update+to+Mode+3+story&utm_campaign=Google+Analytics+Test&utm_medium=email
Tell them we don’t want to waste any more time or money on Edison’s mistakes. Modify the letter any way you like, updating it with this latest news. This is your chance to tell them what you think!
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: October 22, 2012
CONTACT: Damon Moglen, Friends of the Earth: (202) 222-0715
John Large, Large and Associates (London): +44 7971 08886
SAN ONOFRE: Hydrogen gas leak from crippled reactor exposes danger of restart
Friends of the Earth: Edison must immediately say if leak is radioactive
WASHINGTON, Oct. 22 – A reactor at the crippled San Onofre nuclear power plant is leaking hydrogen gas into the environment, according to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Although it is not yet known if the leaking gas is radioactive, Friends of Earth said the latest trouble at San Onofre is strong evidence that the plant is not safe to restart.
According to an NRC bulletin issued Sunday, an unknown quantity of hydrogen gas is leaking from Reactor 2, which like Reactor 3 has been closed since a leak of radioactive steam in January and the discovery of severely damaged steam generators. The NRC did not say what caused the leak.
“There are critical questions that Edison must answer immediately,” said Damon Moglen, energy and climate director at Friends of the Earth. “Is the leaking hydrogen radioactive? And was the leak caused by heating up the plant’s steam generators in advance preparation for restart? Edison keeps saying safety is its priority, but it’s clear that the San Onofre reactors are not safe to operate.”
Both the California Emergency Management Agency and San Diego Department of Environmental Health were notified of the leak Sunday morning.
Earlier this month, Edison filed a plan to restart Reactor 2 at 70 percent power and run it for five months to see whether it is safe to restart permanently. The NRC says it will take months to decide whether to allow restart.
This past weekend, Edison was conducting tests that include bringing the reactor to normal operating pressure and temperature, using offsite electrical power. The steam generators will be hot and pressurized. The leak is likely to persist for some days, as the only way to stop such a leak is to depressurize and lower the temperature of the reactor and its coolant system. This is a delicate operation that must follow rigid safety rules to avoid further damage to the reactors.
“This has all the signs of a bungled and hurried preparation to bring San Onofre Unit 2 back to power,” said John Large, a London-based nuclear consultant. “Depending on the extent of damage to the reactor this could be a further setback to Edison’s plans for an early restart.”
This is a reminder to attend the meeting with the California Public Utility Commission (CPUC) that will be held this Thursday, October 25, 8:30 a.m., at Irvine City Hall, Council Chambers, 1 Civic Center Plaza, Irvine, CA 92606.
Please attend to show support for a CPUC investigation into the financial aspects concerning the future of San Onofre. If approved, ratepayers will be given protection from unwarranted expenses and a clear choice about investing in truly clean, safe and sustainable alternatives. It will only take a small part of your morning to stand with us for this critical decision to start the investigation immediately.
Thanks,
Gary Headrick