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San Onofre now threatened by the Horno Fire on Camp Pendleton

Oct 25 2007

San Onofre now threatened by the Horno Fire on Camp Pendleton

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MWC Corner

By Ace Hoffman

Translation

San Onofre now threatened by the Horno Fire on Camp Pendleton

Like yesterday, I'm still sequestered, only worse, because I-5 North -- the main artery out of San Diego -- is closed, because it runs right by the Horno fire.

Every major highway out of San Diego has been closed at some point in the past 50 hours.

I-5 South, just a few feet west of I-5 North, is open somehow. Obviously, they're playing it very close, they are NOT taking an "abundance of caution" to close this main artery, "just in case."

Since I-5 is the main artery, I can't say I blame them for that. They can always close it if the winds change, right? Right now, winds are below the speed that cars drive (less than about 75 to 80 miles an hour in that stretch of highway most days, and boy am I going to get Californians in trouble for that comment!). The ridge runs East of, and usually (and currently) downwind from, and along, the highway.

If the winds change suddenly, it could flood the entire area between the ocean and the ridge with flaming sparks in a matter of SECONDS. Other fires, even miles away, that create their own artificial winds, can cause the sudden wind shifts, so it is NOT predictable.

That's one reason they are now reporting (10:00 am Wednesday, October 24th, 2007) that they've lit backfires East of the I-5, perhaps half a mile inland, on the other side of the ridge above a run of power lines. The highway usually runs only about 300 yards from the ocean all along that area.

RIGHT NOW San Onofre Nuclear (Waste) Generating Station is being threatened by the Horno Fire on Camp Pendleton. It sits along the thin strip of land which lies between the I-5 Interstate highway, which is just a stone's throw from the nuclear power plant, and the Ocean into which it pours its tritium, krypton, argon, xenon, and more than 100 other radioactive elements, even on a good day (let alone after an accident).

The Horno fire has burned more than 6,000 acres in less than half a day, and is it is within a few miles of the nuclear power plant, and MOVING TOWARDS IT AS THE WINDS ARE PICKING UP. This is an extremely dangerous situation. Power lines are also threatened.

I expect the NRC (Nuclear Regulatory Commission) to do NOTHING. I expect the NRC to say, as they did with 9-11, that "it's not our job."

The NRC doesn't put out brush fires -- they aren't the CDF (California Department of Forestry -- aka "Cal Fire"). They don't worry about hijacked airplanes, either -- they aren't the TSA (Transportation Security Administration). Go ahead -- next time you talk to the NRC, ask them about the ongoing danger from hijacked jets, and they'll tell you that is not a regulatory concern, not a reason to shut the plants, or to stop building new ones, because it is the position of the NRC that other agencies have solved that problem since 9-11.

The NRC will ignore the possibility of a single engine private plane being loaded with explosives and flown into a nuke plant. They will ignore the possibility of a hijacked private mid-size business jet ("all you need is a wad of cash and a credit card" to rent one and load it with any cargo you want). They will ignore, ignore, ignore these and a million other dangers.

The NRC is a pack of lying, criminally-negligent, industry lapdogs. Yesterday, when I warned about what could happen if San Onofre melts down, the NRC took the opportunity to "unsubscribe" from this newsletter! They are criminally ignorant and blissfully oblivious to the obvious. And they want YOU to remain that way, too.

Please write to the Office of Public Affairs (OPA@nrc.gov) and ask them to READ my newsletters, post them online (like I do!), and RESPOND to each one properly!

And please say a prayer for Southern California, which is threatened constantly by San Onofre Nuclear (Waste) Generating Station -- threatened with millions of deaths, trillions of dollars in damages, and massive quantities of grief and pain, which would make what SoCal residents have suffered so far from these wildfires trivial by comparison. In San Diego alone, there has already been a billion dollars in housing losses (more than 1000 houses lost), about half that many businesses and "other structures" have been destroyed, nearly 500 square miles have burned, about half a million people have been forced to evacuate, and, worst so far: Two deaths and about 10 firefighters and two dozen other people injured -- NOT INCLUDING the hundreds of people, mostly old people, who are already going into the emergency rooms for respiratory illnesses. Citizens will die for years because of these fires.

I wonder if my bladder cancer surgery would have been considered "elective" surgery earlier this week, causing a delay in the surgery that saved my life (so far).

It apparently took the efforts of three Congressmen to overcome the bureaucracy keeping military helicopters from helping in the firefighting efforts.

One or two military aircraft were flown yesterday, apparently for PR purposes -- for news cameras to film. But the main fleets remained grounded for bureaucratic reasons.

Once the bureaucratic roadblocks were removed, the equipment -- now more than a day late -- was still nearly 20 buckets short. And it's not certain if those helicopters which don't have buckets will be of any use, since -- at least as of last night -- it's not clear how long it will take the buckets to arrive.

Fortunately, due to the "anti-bureaucratic" behavior of a National Guard general, multiple C-130s were ready to participate in the firefighting efforts. But as of yesterday evening, they were still waiting for fire retardant to be delivered by a contractor. This is the result of "outsourcing" your safety to private companies.

One last thing. They are now reporting (10:30 am, Wednesday, October 24th, 2007) that the transmission lines from San Onofre have gone down "for the third time in the past 10 hours." This one seems longer and more difficult to deal with and they don't appear to expect them to come up any time soon. It sounds like something went wrong with the backfire burn, but they aren't reporting any such thing. Again we are being told, by utility company spokespersons, to turn off everything we don't need or there will be "brownouts and / or rolling blackouts." I've done that. And both sides of I-5 are now open. People have been waiting "for hours" according to the reporter on the scene.

If we lose power, I'll have to turn on the wind-up radio to get the news. But I think the wind-up radio is in the detached garage. If we lose power, I'll hand-write the next newsletter, then turn the laptop on long enough to type the letter, then just turn my computer on (with the battery back-up system) long enough to send it. I wish I had more wind-up lights!

One would HOPE that San Onofre is being shut down, immediately and for the last time. Permanently.

One can HOPE the lesson is learned: CLOSE THESE AWFUL PLANTS and don't open any new ones.

My step-mother just called. She wanted to know "how we are." "We're only being slightly poisoned, but the worst may be yet to come."

Below is my newsletter from yesterday (with two minor typographical errors corrected). The NRC officially ignored it yesterday. Perhaps today they'll listen (but don't hold your breath).

Sincerely,
Ace Hoffman
Carlsbad, CA

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Comments (11)

1. 24-10-2007 22:02

Biased and of little value

This is the worst kind of journalism. It is disguised as a news article on the Camp Pendleton fires, which I would like information about as a local resident. It is actually an editorial/emotional tirade against nuclear power. It is full of unsubstantiated claims and opinions that it presents as fact. Many of the statements presented are subject of debate and some are complete conjecture. Unfortunately, many readers will not know this and will read an article like this and live their lives in ignorant fear. This is not journalism, it is zealotry and fear mongering.

Guest

dirtdad@cox.netNOSPAM! ">Dennis

2. 24-10-2007 22:41

Couple of points

Quote:

It is full of unsubstantiated claims and opinions that it presents as fact. Many of the statements presented are subject of debate and some are complete conjecture.

This is not a news article but an opinion piece. Our news reports are entirely in different section

Subject of debate you say?

That is the reason we provide you with discussion box option.

However, thus far you have failed to show any 'unsubstantiated claim' by the author here.

In all our opinion pieces we give readers an opportunity to rebuke the subject.

Use that wisely.

Registered

Shahram Vahdany

3. 25-10-2007 00:06

Couple of points

I don\'t think many people fully understand the safety feautures of a nuclear power plant. I\'ve been inside one. First of all, nuclear plants have numerous safety features, including fire stations, numerous backup systems. Second, it takes many years (sometimes 10 to 20) to construct a nuclear plant, because of the amount of concrete they are made of. The containment building alone has about 10 feet of reinforced concrete, with thick rebar. Most of the ground that nuclear plants are built on are also made of concrete. As most people know, concrete does not burn. Davis-besse, a nuclear plant in Ohio was hit directly by a tornado, and the buildings weren\'t even touched. Hurricane Andrew directly hit Turkey Point Nuclear Plant in Florida, and the only damage that was sustained was a smokestack, which wasn\'t even part of the nuclear plant (the stack is part of the coal power plant next to it, and it was minor.

Guest

Brady

4. 25-10-2007 00:22

Couple of points

Three Mile Island has a containment building, Chernobyl didn't. The Russians did a lousy job of constructing their plants, and failed to implement safety features with their RBMK reactors. The operators who were assigned to operate Chernobyl weren't even trained in nuclear engineering, they were trained to operate coal plants. That is one of the reasons why a lot of people are afraid of nuclear energy. Plus containment Buildings are much stronger than the World Trade Center Towers, so damage from an airliner crashing into it would be minor. And they are too small of a target for jets. And most of the security guards who work at nuclear plants are ex-military. It would be a complete waste of time for a terrorist to target a nuclear plant.

Guest

Brady

5. 25-10-2007 01:23

opinions

I honor the right to express your opinion, has I hope you honor mine. The general thrust of this piece is obviously not an effort to report on the current events, as much as to rant against the use of nuclear power. I appreciate Brady's comments as well as dirtdad. I hope others reading this "article" do not naively take it as fact and jump on a bandwagon that doens't need more wheels. As a parent of a person in the area, more actually facts and not so much opinion of government misdoings would be appreciated. We have enough (and many rightly so) tyraids against government, but in a time like this it seems as a ploy for attention to your "cause". Not the time or place.

Guest

a mom

6. 25-10-2007 05:02