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Rally Against Nuclear Power at San Onofre on April 29th

by Staff on April 21, 2012

Rally Commemorates Chernobyl, TMI, continuing meltdown at Fukushima on Sunday, from Noon to 3pm

“Shut Down San Onofre” Momentum builds following Radioactivity Release and Design-Error Shutdown of the Plant

April 20, 2012 (SAN ONOFRE) – Nuclear Industry Expert Daniel Hirsch and Irvine City Councilmember Larry Agran will join a dozen other speakers at the “Shut Down San Onofre” rally at the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station on Sunday, April 29, to support the view that the reactor should never be restarted. The event occurs just after the 26th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster, the 33-year anniversary of the Three-Mile Island accident, and the first Fukushima Daiichi meltdown anniversary — an accident which is far from over.

Irvine Councilmember Larry Agran, who joined other community members in a private meeting with NRC Chairman Gregory Jaczko on April 6, 2012, spoke eloquently at the meeting citing critical safety concerns. A major disaster at the plant would put 8.4 million residents at risk and create a no-mans-land out of Southern California. Agran introduced a resolution requesting permanent shutdown of the plant to the Irvine City Council, and it was approved unanimously. Other cities are following suit, such as Solana Beach, which approved a similar resolution.

Despite the earthquake, tsunami, and terrorist risks, the undoing of the San Onofre plant may be due to engineering or manufacturing errors. After spending $670 million to replace the steam generators, operators thought the plant would operate without failure for decades. The original steam generators lasted over 25 years, and the replacement generators were carefully designed to reduce failure mechanisms, or so they thought. Instead, an unexpected radioactive steam release in January forced management to reveal that both steam generators were exhibiting unexpected thinning in hundreds of heat transfer tubes. NRC Chairman Jaczko is keeping the plant shut down until the root cause of the problem is determined, and corrective measures to be take so the plant can be operated safely.

“The plant has served its useful life and combined with other risks, is not worth fixing,” Ray Lutz said, an engineer and now National Coordinator, Citizens’ Oversight Projects. “At this point, it will be extremely hard to argue that minor corrections to the failing steam generators will make the plant safe. They were brand new, and obviously insufficiently tested to reveal that the numerous design changes made them far worse then the originals. That may mean a full replacement of these huge components is required and thus probably more than another half billion dollars wasted on this plant if they attempt to fix it.”

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EVENT DETAILS:

Date/Time: Sunday, April 29, 2012. Gather at 12 noon. March starts at 12:15. Rally 1pm to 3pm.

Location: Rally: 1:00 p.m. about 1/8 mile south of the San Onofre facility

Directions: I-5 to Basilone Rd exit, ~2 miles south.

March: 12:30 p.m. starting at gate of San Onofre State Beach (~1/8 mile) along access road; Parking: Available at San Onofre State Beach, $15 day use fee. Shuttle vans will be available to help those who have parked get to the rally site.

Buses: Seats on buses from Balboa Park (Park Ave at Presidents Way) or from Oceanside Transit Center are $10 each ($11.54 for tickets purchased with credit cards online.) Reserve at http://ShutDownSanOnofre.org or call 619-501-1031 for questions.

Speakers: Nuclear Industry Experts; Elected Officials; Activists; Hollywood Celebrities; Scientists and Engineers; Persons with personal stories from TMI and Chernobyl Entertainment: Charlie Imes and Liquid Blue

Endorsed by:

Peace Resource Center of San Diego
Residents Organized for a Safe Environment (ROSE)
San Diego Coalition for Peace and Justice (SDCPJ)
San Onofre Safety (SOS)
Citizens Oversight Projects (COPS)
San Clemente Green
Occupy Escondido