Protest Against San Onofre Nuke Plant Planned for Thursday NRC Meeting

At a Thursday meeting with regulatory officials, San Clemente Green, a local environmental group, will urge officials to decommission the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station, in light of the earthquake in Japan. 

The meeting, at 5 p.m. at the Capistrano Unified School District office, is a 

The plant has been troubled with. The plant is facing a 

Plant officials, however, 

The following is the text of a letter to the editor from Gary Headrick, the founder of San Clemente Green:

My wife and I started San Clemente Green to enact a Sustainability Action Plan for our town.

We did not become actively engaged in questioning San Onofre Safety (our SOS campaign) until whistle blowers from SONGS began to use us as a conduit to the public to avoid retaliation from management. Our inquiries always seem to lead to the same conclusion which is that important matters of public safety are left in the hands of those who are supposed to be regulated by the NRC.

In other words, “the fox is left guarding the hen house.”

Meanwhile, the NRC and  seem to believe that their job is to reassure people by giving them false hopes built upon wishful thinking. Or perhaps they suffer an incurable sense of denial in confronting a futile task to protect the public against such insurmountable forces of destruction.

I strongly encourage everyone to come witness the cordial banter between the NRC and SONGS Management team for yourselves. On the surface it will look like the NRC is very concerned about these recurring problems at the plant, with hard hitting observations and demands. The problem seems to be in the NRC’s reluctance to do anything of any real consequence. The act of issuing a “Chilling Effect Letter” seems to be grossly inadequate in the face of serious problems that continue for years and only get worse with time.

It has come to the point where people must insist on corrective action before Fukushima happens right here. Please join our protest to demand that the NRC take the conservative approach to their assumptions and stop giving the industry the benefit of the doubt.

As Japan continues to spew radioactive materials into the environment the claims and credibility of scientists, engineers and government agencies continue to vaporize.

There is only one rational option left, and that is to do as Germany has done. Shut down power at nuclear power plants long enough to ensure their safety and decommission those which do not measure up.

We are a strong people. We can handle a little hardship and inconvenience as we transition to renewable energy sources. I’m sure the entire population of Japan would do that if they could magically have a chance to go back and do things differently. Let’s learn from their costly lesson and demand what is right for humanity and the rest of life on this planet while there is still time.

The experts all agree that the “Big One” is certainly going to strike soon. We only have a little time to eliminate the potential for a radiation release that would cover much of our country. Certainly the challenges in trying to recover from such a devastating earthquake will be overwhelming enough without radiation to deal with.

It looks like it will be up to the will of the people to eliminate the nuclear threat. Please make time to join our protest on Thursday, April 28 at 5:00, 33122 Valle Road, San Juan Capistrano.

Our Facebook page can also be found under“Decommission San Onofre” for more up to date information, or visit http://www.sanclementegreen.org/