NRC public meeting re #SanOnofre restart 2.21.2013

archived livestream of NRC #SanOnofre Restart Meeting in CA 130212 by parissocalcat 

-- i hope to include additional photos and videos --

RALLY & PRESS CONFERENCE

Martha Sullivan photo

Carol Jahnkow photo

VIDEO: Cathy Iwan-Fukushima Survivor at San Onofre Restart Protest! kevin d blanch 2/13/13 - YouTube: 2-12-2013 KEVIN BLANCH & JONI RAE team up for the NRC safety review regarding the San Onofre Nuclear Power Station in San Clemente, Southern California. Rick Daniel from Citizens Oversight Project presented speakers from all over the US to voice concerns regarding the SONGS shut down review. In attendance was Rick Daniel, Mayor Mike Nichols of Solano Beach-San Diego County, Gene Stone of ROSE, Cathy Iwan-Fukushima survivor, Beverly Findlay-Families for Safe Energy. Cathy Iwan Fukushima Survivor warns Southern California residents of the pending danger at SONGS! AND......THE IRONY OF THE SONGS REACTOR WITH SOLAR PANELS IN THEIR PARKING LOT!!!!!

VIDEO: San Onofre Anti-nuclear Press Conference 2-12-2013 kevin d blanch 2/13/13 - YouTube: KEVIN BLANCH & JONI RAE team up for the NRC safety review regarding the San Onofre Nuclear Power Station in San Clemente, Southern California. Rick Daniel from Citizens Oversight Project presented speakers from all over the US to voice concerns regarding the SONGS shut down review. In attendance was Rick Daniel, Mayor Mike Nichols of Solano Beach-San Diego County, Gene Stone of ROSE, Cathy Iwan-Fukushima survivor, Beverly Findlay-Families for Safe Energy

photo @parissocalcat

PRESS RELEASE AND MEDIA ADVISORY

 ~ 2.12 #SanOnofre Restart Meeting

***

SCE Staged Union Worker Stunt at SONGS Review Hearing! kevin d blanch 2/13/13 - YouTube

photo @parissocalcat

busloads of SCE and union members arriving a full hour before the meeting

2.12.2012
BREAKING NEWS FROM A CALIFORNIA RESIDENT ATTENDING THE MEETING TONIGHT
"NRC cheating us out of our talking time that was promised.

NRC takes last minute action to squelch public awareness, consistent with other recent revelations. The letter below was just sent in response to this insulting and disrespectful attitude shown by those who are sworn to protect us. It is more important than ever for the public and media to show up in extraordinary numbers. Come to our press conference at the meeting site at 4:00 to hear the brief presentation we had prepared for the meeting. We refuse to be silenced when our families, friends and places we live are under such a huge threat.
NRC Commissioners:
I just finished a phone call with Ryan Lantz who informed me of the results from their planning session for today's meeting. In the past few days, our reasonable request to have 15 minutes to present the views of several grass roots organizations has been chipped away at until we are left with nothing more than is typically provided to the general public.
With the NRC taking this highly inflammatory action after acting all along as though they were working with us, we are extremely disappointed. I am writing you now to let you know how detrimental this will be to the NRC's failing public image. The elected officials are being handled with the same disrespectful treatment as our citizens groups. If you can do something to salvage your public image that is so lacking at this time, I encourage you to do so. I am working on our next press release right now so your immediate response to this crisis is critical.
Seriously,
Gary Headrick.
Please like, share and SHOW UP with family and friends! "

THE MEETING
the room looks full by 5:30; lots of orange

@VoiceofOC

Welcome to Voice of OC, Orange County's nonprofit investigative news agency.

Martha Sullivan photo

Re-Think NOT Re-Start! ~ Myla Reson photo

Myla Reson photo

Myla Reson photo

Women Occupy Nuclear Regulatory Commission Public Meeting on Southern California Edison's plan to restart is damaged San Onofre nuclear plant.

Occupy OB ‏@occupyob: @r_cherwink it's packed at least a few hundred. Union workers paid to be here to distort public opinion.

shouldn't that be illegal? - - look at all that orange! - absolutely disgusting that SCE packs the house like that. i wonder if they are really paid? - if so i think it should be illegal. after all it is supposed to be a PUBLIC MEETING, i.e. for the public not a grandstand and forum for the company; and IF they are paying them, they are using rate-payer dollars to fight a local cause ~~ we know that they are paying for busses, food, tents... did you see the video from the SanO parking lot with all that?

quotes from various attendees -

"LiUna members in Orange T-Shirts told me Edison paid for 6 busses each filled with 48 workers - most of them laborers in San Diego who DO NOT WORK at San Onofre. According to those I spoke with - they all received a per diem from Edison"

"By all accounts, it was a delicious catered meal, two orange tee shirts, a hat, a Costco gift card with a promise of another card at the end of the evening, a swag bag, and a ride to and from their neighborhood in a luxury coach."

"At one point in the meeting, a union leader asked the workers who were there who thought the plant was safe to stand up...of course all the folks in orange shirts stood up...that's what they had been brought there for. What a sham. I really hate seeing people being used and manipulated this way. Shame on the union leadership and shame on Southern California Edison."

"Actually I counted 12 buses arriving with union workers nearly 400 of them"

"Each person with an orange shirt I spoke to said that the buses came and picked them up in their town, whether it be Chula Vista or San Marcos, and would return them home. All were extremely impressed with the quality of the buffet provided for them and the Costco gift card with each one's name written on it. Each was pleased to have their own tote bag with free "lipstick", two orange tee-shirts and complimentary cap."

"It was very telling that when (maybe the same) union leader asked everyone who knows the plant is safe to raise their hands, he had to say ... and "everyone should be raising their hands" to make sure his recruits understood the instruction."

"...interestingly, there was a delay when he asked them to raise their hand if they thought it was safe. He really had to exhort the group to wake them to raise their hand. I think that generally the 'workers' were disengaged from the process, and perhaps there was a language barrier. I think they were doing what they thought they were being compensated to do, but not sure what was required."

left to right: Donald Mosier, Del Mar City Council; Mike Nichols, Mayor, Solana Beach; Lee Haydu, Del Mar City Council; Dr. Rob Wilder, Representative for San Diego Mayor Bob Filner; Dave Roberts, San Diego County Supervisor. NRC Public Meeting, Feb. 12, 2013. Carol Jahnkow photo

LETTER FROM BOB FILNER, MAYOR OF SAN DIEGO, TO NRC REGARDING SAN ONOFRE RESTART PLAN
VIDEO: Bob Filner: San Onofre Nuke Plant Re-Start = Dangerous Experiment - YouTube
TEXT: whats up: Mayor of San Diego: San Onofre Nuke Plant Re-Start = Dangerous Experiment

VIDEO: Tom English: Profit over Safety??? - YouTube

VIDEO: San Onofre Nuke Plant - What Could Possibly Go Wrong? - YouTube
San Clemente resident Jannifer Massey outlines potential scenarios which preclude a determination that SoCal Edison's damaged San Onofre nuclear power plant can be operated without recklessly endangering millions of Southern California residents.


notes -

We have developed our core message, which is ever evolving and shaped due to recent revelations regarding Mitsubishi Heavy Industries' (designers of the failed steam generators) leaked documents which Senator Boxer and Rep. Markey got ahold of....thus demanded a full investigation into Edison's complicity of the NRC. Funny thing, the NRC has been sitting on this document since October so they could very well be complicit, also. 

Here is our core message and important questions, which were copied off and distributed to people at the meeting, who were open to receiving it (even many pro-edison folks took it): 

FEBRUARY CORE MESSAGE: NRC PUBLIC MEETING

The Coalition to Decommission San Onofre is comprised of community-based, grassroots organizations in San Diego and Orange Counties concerned for the health and safety of 8.5 million residents and customers living within 50 miles of the defective San Onofre Nuclear Power Plant, and for the economy of Southern California. Member Organizations: Citizen Oversight, Peace Resource Center of San Diego, Residents Organized for a Safe Environment, San Clemente Green, San Onofre Safety, and Women Occupy San Diego.

We confirm our Core Message delivered at the NRC’s public meeting in Dana Point on October 9, 2012 and in Laguna Hills on November 30, 2012: 

We oppose Edison's proposed re-start of the defective nuclear reactor Unit 2 at the San Onofre Nuclear Power Plant. We demand a full, transparent Adjudicatory Hearing and License Amendment process, including evidentiary hearings with sworn testimony and cross-examination which include experts independent of the NRC, Edison and the nuclear power industry. 

The public meetings conducted by the NRC are NOT a substitute for this process. Given how we got to this point and the serious loss of faith by the public in the NRC and Edison as a result, we can see no reason why all five NRC Commissioners would not want this as well.

Our Core Message has been vindicated by recent revelations: 

Senator Boxer and Representative Markey blew the whistle that a confidential report shows Edison and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries were aware of design problems before the now-failed replacement steam generators were installed, and rejected safety modifications to sidestep a more rigorous safety review by the NRC.

In response, NRC Chair Macfarlane disclosed that the NRC launched an expansive investigation last fall into the completeness and accuracy of information that Southern California Edison provided to the NRC related to the replacement of the steam generators and whether Southern California Edison fully complied with its legal obligations. 

The NRC must STOP THE SECRECY to regain the trust of the PEOPLE, not the nuclear power industry.

The NRC MUST postpone any decision on Edison’s reckless proposal to restart the defective Unit 2 nuclear reactor at San Onofre until the results of this investigation are fully disclosed to the public. 
A growing number of Southern California City Councils, Mayors, Congressmembers, and School Boards have added their voices to our call for an adjudicated License Amendment hearing process prior to restart of the crippled San Onofre Nuclear Power Plant in defense of their residents and businesses, including Del Mar, Encinitas, Irvine, Laguna Beach, Mission Viejo, San Diego Mayor and San Diego Unified School District, Santa Monica, Solana Beach and Cong. Juan Vargas (CD 51). The Cities of Escondido, San Clemente and Vista have joined in Senators Boxer's and Feinstein's calls for the NRC to modify its policies and procedures in light of Fukushima meltdowns, to further protect their residents and businesses.

On January 22, 2013, the governing Board of the 2nd-Largest School District in CA, San Diego Unified School District found that: “restarting the defective Unit 2 nuclear reactor at San Onofre will have profound impacts on our children in San Diego Unified and the surrounding communities in the event of a nuclear accident regarding radiation contamination of air, water and food, evacuation plans, and long term viability of life in Southern California;” and urged “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 “that the costs for doing so and the responsibility for paying said costs must also be known before restart is allowed”.

We join the San Diego Unified School District Board in calling upon the NRC and CA Public Utilities Commission to work cooperatively to reduce any further risk to the residents and ratepayers of Edison and SDG&E. 

NRC proceedings regarding San Onofre should be conducted in the area most impacted by the decisions of these proceedings and should accommodate the more than 1,000 concerned citizens who want to attend.

For More Information: 
www.sanonofresafety.org


Here's the list of suggestions for questions, distributed to the public at the NRC meeting: (many of these questions WERE asked...and the sticky ones were evaded cleverly by a systematic nod from Ted Craver (Pres. of Edison Int'l) or Peter Deitrich (Edison Chief Nuclear Officer and VP) or a whisper to the NRC moderator: 

Questions for the NRC:

• If there is even a perception that the NRC might be in collusion with Edison's evading a license amendment hearing, how can we expect you to prosecute yourselves?

• Ratepayers have paid $770 million in this SG debacle, not to mention $60 million/month to Edison in exchange for no energy. The NRC has been sitting on questionable "proprietary information" since October last year. Why was this information not released to the public? IF the NRC is serious about protecting the public; if Edison's first concern is safety; then why don’t you release the documents and submit to an open, adjudicatory hearing?

• My understanding is that it will be up to the nuclear operator to shut down the reactor if there is another radiation leak. It is also my understanding that there is no option for shutting down the reactor if there is a main steam line break or a cascade of tube failures. What is the NRC'S recommendation for that possible scenario?

• On June 8, 2012 the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia directed that prior to any relicensing or licensing of a nuclear power generating station, the NRC must perform a National Enviromental Policy Act (NEPA) analysis on spent fuel storage and disposal, taking into account the environmental consequences of the lack of a permanent repository. Would a license amendment at San Onofre require that a NEPA analysis be performed? (If not, then why?)

• What are the plans to deal with the radioactive waste piling up at San Onofre?

• Why does the NRC risk its own credibility and the right of every southland city, school district & millions of residents to know the truth about what Edison knew about this dangerously defective steam generator equipment?

• In light of the Boxer/Markey allegations, will experts independent of the NRC & the nuclear industry be able to study all the related information during your extended investigation?

• We understand the NRC’s federal jurisdiction for safety and the state’s CPUC for cost & reliability issues. How does or how could the NRC coordinate your investigational findings and your timelines with the CPUC to best optimize public safety?

• Will the NRC now postpone any decision on the re-start of the reactors until this critical new investigation regarding the Boxer/Markey allegations is complete?

• The LA Times reported last week that Chair MacFarlane said the NRC "launched an "expansive investigation" on Sept. 28, 2012." If the NRC has known about the possible allegations raised by Senators Boxer and Markey for over 4 months, why is this is the first we're hearing of it?

• Fuel fleas outside the containment areas have been documented in the past at San Onofre, and in fact contributed to the shutdown of Reactor 1. Were fuel fleas detected after the Unit 3 radiation leak on Jan. 30, 2012?

• Does the NRC intend to approve a restart when there is an on-going FBI investigation into a case of sabotage?


Questions for parents to ask:

• Given that Japan has reconsidered its benchmarks for emergency planning zones after Fukushima, why hasn’t the NRC reconsidered its emergency planning zones, which don’t even reflect the 50-mile evacuation radius ordered by the American Embassy to its citizens in Japan in March 2011?

• How can you even consider an experimental restart of Unit 2 when substandard emergency planning zones threaten the lives of our children, who, as demonstrated by the 43% of children tested in Fukushima with thyroid abnormalities, are the most susceptible to radioactive poisoning?

• I live in ______________. Aside from vague explanations of arbitrary emergency planning zones on the NRC and SONGS websites, I have no idea what to do in a nuclear emergency. How am I supposed to help my own children if I don’t have access to realistic information?

• Has the NRC communicated with the St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in O.C., or the Radys Children's Hospital in San Diego, or the Make a Wish Foundation to see how they feel about restarting a defective nuclear reactor unit upwind of millions of children?

• As a parent who does everything to keep my kids safe, why is all this information about the risks of restarting a defective reactor unit on my children's health coming from other parents? Why have you not been informing all of us about these horrific risks?

• Why do you refuse to take responsibility for safety of the public outside of the property line of the power plant? How can you say that FEMA, the Red Cross, Cal-EMA and emergency responders are responsible for public safety when all they can do for us is "after the fact" in an accident, when it’s too late?

• Has any of your NRC staff gone to the School Boards and PTA meetings to explain to parents what a severe nuclear accident means to the children exposed to the radioactive fallout? And if not, why not?

• NRC, Can we rely on you to protect our kids? You don't seem to understand that we don't have a viable evacuation plan and we were never told that a severe nuclear accident means that we may never be able to return to our homes. My kids need their home.

• Are you willing to give a presentation to our school board about nuclear accidents and do it without the sugar coating that the IPC and Edison PR people endorse?

• Who can we hold personally accountable at the NRC if the Steam Generators fail and contaminate our communities and impact our children's health?


Questions for Edison:
• In Maryland last week, the panel of NRC investigators and global nuclear industry vendors expressed multiple times the unexpected, unprecedented, and surprising phenomenon of San Onofre’s steam generator tube wear & issues never seen before in the industry. How can you risk a re-start with that revealing information signaling the tip of the iceberg?
• How can Edison achieve the steam generators’ primary safety functions it was licensed to do at 100% power with only experimental extrapolations to avoid vibration amplitude?

• Has Edison explained to its employees why the NRC needs this extended investigation?

• How can SC Edison’s corrective actions be appropriate to ensure the integrity of the steam generator tubing, when the steam generator design modeling was off by a 4-5 factor?

• San Onofre is a base load plant, it was not designed to be run at 70% power, so how long do you think you can realistically run Unit 2 at 100% power given the extensive wear that has already occurred in the new steam generators; that’s if the NRC allows a restart and the 5 month trial is successful?
• What is Edison’s long-term plan for San Onofre, given the new safety standards expected from the NRC, based on the Lessons Learned from Fukushima?
• What is the point of doing this 5-month test run of Unit 2 if the California Public Utilities Commission is going to say that the cost of implementing the new safety requirements and replacing the steam generators is too high and the plant is ultimately destined to be decommissioned?
• As a parent of _(children's names/photos)______ have you, Edison, explained to your employees, who are responsible for the plant's safe operation, why the NRC needs this extended investigation?

• In light of this revelation, with many frightening realities bombarding our families, how does SCE suggest I tell my children, that you will be truthful and really keep our children safe?

Question for Mr. Dietrich:

It was in the news last week that you received a $350,000 performance bonus. Given the situation, and the costs involved, have you considered returning your bonus to the ratepayers?

Question for Mr. Craver:

As Chairman and CEO of Edison, you have stated that you can decide to decommission these admittedly defective nuclear power plants. You don't need to drag this out at additional cost to ratepayers and anxiety to residents. What do you need to make a sound business decision to stop throwing good ratepayer money down the drain?

NEWS - - -

Crowd grills NRC at San Onofre meeting | restart, nrc, plant - News - The Orange County Register

A panel of nuclear regulators fielded pointed questions and sometimes angry comments from a crowd of more than 1,000 people Tuesday night at a meeting in Capistrano Beach about reopening one of two idled reactors at the San Onofre nuclear plant.

Local Officials Join Activists in Caution Over San Onofre - Voice of OC

At a packed public meeting in Capistrano Beach Tuesday, local elected officials joined environmental activists in calling for a trial-like hearing before the idled San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS) is allowed to restart.

“The restart of Unit 2, even at reduced power, is a dangerous experiment that threatens the safety of 8.2 million Southern California residents,” San Diego Mayor Bob Filner declared in a letter read aloud to U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) officials at the meeting. 

“I urge you not to authorize the restart of SONGS until both a full license amendment hearing has been conducted by the NRC and the [California Public Utilities Commission] finishes its investigation,” Filner’s message continued. 

Tuesday’s NRC meeting was filled with hundreds of activists, union workers and officials. It came on the heels of the NRC announcing an “expansive investigation” into whether Southern California Edison misled regulators and rejected safety measures that could have prevented a January 2012 radiation leak. 

Edison has disputed assertions last week by Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) that Edison knew about major problems with the plant’s replacement steam generators before they were installed. 

The NRC plans to decide as early as April on a request by Edison to restart part of the plant at reduced power. Regulators acknowledged the seriousness of that decision, with San Onofre Oversight Panel Co-Chairman Art Howell saying the extremely rapid tube wear is a “serious safety issue, and it has to be resolved.” 

Several elected officials from cities in San Diego and Los Angeles counties urged extreme caution in approving any restart proposal. 

“I have to tell you, evacuation is not an option for 10 million people,” said a representative of Los Angeles Councilman Paul Koretz. The original approval process for replacement steam generators obviously didn’t work, he added, so “this time you need to get it right.”

NRC Could Alter Rules For San Onofre Restart | KPBS.org

NRC raises bar for San Onofre restart | UTSanDiego.com

San Onofre: Did Edison submit false information to NRC? | Friends of the Earth

NRC should release document indicating prior knowledge of design problems at San Onofre nuclear reactors | Friends of the Earth


San Diego Union Members Attend San Onofre Hearing For Costco Gift Cards | KPBS.org (Feb. 15)

Dozens of union members showed up at this week’s public meeting supporting a plan to restart San Onofre nuclear plant . And they did it after receiving Costco gift cards in exchange...

...Lemmon said later this week that the union paid for the Costco gift cards for members who attended the public meeting at San Onofre. He declined to answer why they were given or what they were worth, saying he wanted to speak with lawyers first.

Lemmon did not return subsequent calls.

SEE ALSO:

PRESS RELEASE AND MEDIA ADVISORY ~ 2.12 #SanOnofre Restart Meeting

whats up: 2.12 Capo Beach NRC re #SanOnofre Restart

whats up - TAG: San Onofre

Dan Hirsch to NRC: SanO Reactors Very Sick - Need Intensive Care - YouTube: NRC Commisioners' Briefing on San Onofre Steam Generators' Tube Degradation Feb. 7, 2013

Down - YouTube

Published on Apr 2, 2012 A new television ad targeting Southern California Edison calls on residents to let the utility know that their families come first -- and that it must not restart the troubled San Onofre nuclear reactors, which are currently closed due to serious safety problems.