Fear grows in O.C. cities near San Onofre nuclear plant

LA Times ^ | 30 March 2012 | Rick Rojas

[blueplum]

Concern over the safety of the San Onofre nuclear power plant is growing among Orange County cities closest to the facility, which has been shut down since January because of system failures.

Officials in nearby San Clemente and Laguna Beach — both within 20 miles of the San Onofre facility — have registered their fears after significant wear was found on hundreds of tubes carrying radioactive water inside the plant's generators.

...Southern California Edison, which operates the San Onofre facility, said San Onofre is vital to providing electricity to a densely populated, high-consuming area like Southern California, with 20% of the region's electricity coming from nuclear plants.

"San Onofre is critical to that grid stability," said Jennifer Manfrey, a company spokeswoman, who added that the company is making up for the difference by purchasing power from different sources on the market — a solution that can't continue indefinitely, particularly with the increase in consumption in the summer months. Other clean energy sources, such as wind and solar, aren't enough to close the gap.

[blueplum]

at link is pic of the plant that pretty much sits on the beach side of the freeway

[nuke rocketeer]

Beautiful location. I’ve done a couple of short term assignments there.

[GOP Poet]

bookmark

[BookmanTheJanitor]

I live closer than 10 miles to the plant and haven’t heard one friend, relative, or other person ever say they were afraid. Neither have any of my 4 kids. Hell, the plant is rarely, if ever, discussed.

[mikey_hates_everything]

"Other clean energy sources, such as wind and solar, aren't enough to close the gap."

Just part of the plan to get it all out of their backyards. Coal would work just fine. But I'm sure Palo Verde in Arizona and the 500kv lines from it can handle the extra load...for now. They'll be happy until some terrorists insurgents "moderate" soon-to-be-extremist koranimals take out a few of those towers, or better yet, the step-up transformers, out in the desert.

[kidd]

Concern over the safety of the San Onofre nuclear power plant is growing among Orange County cities closest to the facility

If you read the article, you find that exactly three people have expressed their concerns: a democrat mayor who never supported the plants, a second democrat mayor, and a political organizer

And the money quote from the poltical organizer: "When you have to have all these safety measures, it says to me there is an inherent danger."

Which, of course, applies to almost anything, including automobiles, swimming, microwave ovens, etc

[Truth29]

"If you read the article, you find that exactly three people have expressed their concerns: a democrat mayor who never supported the plants, a second democrat mayor, and a political organizer"

So when the grid goes down, if there is justice in the world, these three will be among the first burned in the rioting and looting.

[BfloGuy]

If you read the article, you find that exactly three people have expressed their concerns

Heh. I hadn't read the article but I was wondering if there really were fears in the neighborhood or if the reporter thought there should be fears. You answered it for me.

[surrey]

My son and his family live in San Clemente and they never mention it. We’ll be there next week and won’t give it a second thought.