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| author name = Iwane C | | author name = Iwane C | ||
| author affiliation = Public Commenter | | author affiliation = Public Commenter | ||
| addressee name = Macfarlane A | | addressee name = Macfarlane A | ||
| addressee affiliation = NRC/Chairman | | addressee affiliation = NRC/Chairman | ||
| docket = 05000206, 05000361, 05000362 | | docket = 05000206, 05000361, 05000362 | ||
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{{#Wiki_filter:Joosten, Sandy From: cathy iwane Sent: Wednesday, May 15, 2013 3:12 To: CHAIRMAN Resource; CMRMAGWOOD Resource; CMRAPOSTOLAKIS CMRSVINICKI Resource; CMROSTENDORFF Resource | {{#Wiki_filter:Joosten, Sandy From: cathy iwane [cathyiwane@yahoo.com] | ||
Sent: Wednesday, May 15, 2013 3:12 PM To: CHAIRMAN Resource; CMRMAGWOOD Resource; CMRAPOSTOLAKIS Resource; CMRSVINICKI Resource; CMROSTENDORFF Resource | |||
==Subject:== | ==Subject:== | ||
My worried letter to Tom Amabile of San Diego Office of Emergency Services Mr. Tom Amabile Senior Emergency Services Coordinator San Diego County Office of Emergency Services 5580 Overland Ave #100, San Diego, California 92123 April 2, 2013 | My worried letter to Tom Amabile of San Diego Office of Emergency Services Mr. Tom Amabile Senior Emergency Services Coordinator San Diego County Office of Emergency Services 5580 Overland Ave #100, San Diego, California 92123 April 2, 2013 | ||
==Dear Mr. Amabile,== | ==Dear Mr. Amabile,== | ||
Today I write to you from the perspective of a mother of two daughters, married to a Japanese national, having evacuated Japan after 25 years due to the ongoing triple nuclear meltdowns in Fukushima. | |||
We lived with a geiger counter for a year, measuring radioactive contamination in foods and ambient background before making the decision to return to my native California. | Today I write to you from the perspective of a mother of two daughters, married to a Japanese national, having evacuated Japan after 25 years due to the ongoing triple nuclear meltdowns in Fukushima. We lived with a geiger counter for a year, measuring radioactive contamination in foods and ambient background before making the decision to return to my native California. My husband remains in Japan. Our city, Wakayama, is 380 miles from the Fukushima (the approximate distance from San Francisco to San Diego) reactors and yet, we measured locally caught fish to be highly radioactive in September of 2011. In October, 2011, a City Councilman's soils tests revealed radioactive Cesium to be 5 times pre-Fukushima levels at a park near my home. In May of 2011, after researching ingredients in my daughter's school lunches, I found that only 60% | ||
My husband remains in Japan. Our city, Wakayama, is 380 miles from the Fukushima (the approximate distance from San Francisco to San Diego) reactors and yet, we measured locally caught fish to be highly radioactive in September of 2011. In October, 2011, a City Councilman's soils tests revealed radioactive Cesium to be 5 times pre-Fukushima levels at a park near my home. In May of 2011, after researching ingredients in my daughter's school lunches, I found that only 60% of them were locally procured. | of them were locally procured. The remainder came from outside areas, including near Fukushima. Despite having taught English at this school for 10 years, my daughter opted out of the school lunch program as I prepared a lunch each day of solely local ingredients. My daughter was forced lie to classmates that she had allergies, thus her homemade lunch. Her principal told me it would cause panic among the PTA at school, to reveal my research with the other mothers. | ||
The remainder came from outside areas, including near Fukushima. | Presently, 43% of children who remain in Fukushima are diagnosed with tumors and irregularities of the thyroid gland due to radioactive exposure. In Tokyo, radioactive milk from Fukushima is diluted with other milk and is legally being served to school children for lunch. This disaster has torn apart families and communities throughout Japan. Distrust in the governnlent is rampant. TEPCO (Tokyo Electric Power Company, owners of the Fukushima reactors) assured the public that Fukushima Daiichi could withstand large tsunamis and earthquakes. However in hindsight, it was a combination of lack of regulatory agency 1 | ||
Despite having taught English at this school for 10 years, my daughter opted out of the school lunch program as I prepared a lunch each day of solely local ingredients. | |||
My daughter was forced lie to classmates that she had allergies, thus her homemade lunch. Her principal told me it would cause panic among the PTA at school, to reveal my research with the other mothers. Presently, 43% of children who remain in Fukushima are diagnosed with tumors and irregularities of the thyroid gland due to radioactive exposure. | oversight and lack of proper emergency response and back-up systems failure that is blamed for the accident. TEPeo has finally come clean with a semblance of accountability: | ||
In Tokyo, radioactive milk from Fukushima is diluted with other milk and is legally being served to school children for lunch. This disaster has torn apart families and communities throughout Japan. Distrust in the governnlent is rampant. TEPCO (Tokyo Electric Power Company, owners of the Fukushima reactors) assured the public that Fukushima Daiichi could withstand large tsunamis and earthquakes. | http://www.huffingtonpost.con1/2013/03/29/fukushima-disaster tepco blame n 2978681.html?utm hp ref=fb&src=sp&comm ref=false No one EVER imagined the magnitude of 3/11. Here is my report from November of 2011, on a friend, Ikuko Nitta, who evacuated Fukushima to my home in Wakayama. She now resides with her children in Malaysia: http://www.dianuke.org/wakayama-Iadies against-nukes-a-report/ | ||
However in hindsight, it was a combination of lack of regulatory agency 1 oversight and lack of proper emergency response and back-up systems failure that is blamed for the accident. | I cannot stress enough that the 3 nuclear reactors in Fukushima CONTINUE to melt down, releasing tons and tons of radioactive run-off water into the Pacific Ocean EVERY day for the last two years. Contrary to popular belief, this disaster is nowhere near being over. While the Japanese government and TEPCO feign decontamination, it is fact that these reactors are still too hot to cap because doing so would cause explosions of unbelievable scale. It is so hot and highly contaminated, in fact, that human workers cannot go inside to commence "repairs". Robots cannot even withstand the high radiation; they only cease to operate. | ||
TEPeo has finally come clean with a semblance of accountability: | Commissioner William Magwood of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission! speaking at a hearing of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee in Washington last year! said that it is difficult to underestimate the challenge of removing radioactive material from the area. "There will need to be new technologies created fl to accomplish the clean-up, Mr. Magwood said. "And some of these technologies don't exist yet. If http:Ublogs.wsj .com/japanrealtime/20 12/09/13/fukushi ma-watch -japa nese-have-Iost-fa ith-i n nuclear-power-u-s-regulatorl Ask any expert and you will find conservative estimates of it taking 10 years or more for these reactors to cool down enough to cap and commence decommissioning. Meanwhile, timed pressure releases of steam are released each week into the environment; into our environment. I can attest to the fact that contamination in NO WAY stays within the evacuation zone of 20 km in Fukushima. 26 out of 47 prefectures in Japan are found to have trace levels of radioactive Cesium in the their municipal water supplies. We are talking about a country that, if we put all of the islands together, is the size of California. | ||
She now resides with her children in Malaysia: | Ironically, in January of 2012 while packing our bags for California! I signed the lease to our present living space just days before the radioactive releases at SONGS! prompting the reactors #2 and #3 to go offline. | ||
against-nukes-a-report/ | What were the chances that I'd be running from a triple nuclear meltdown in Fukushima, only to agonize over the risks and dangers of Edison's proposed restart of reactor #2 at 70% power? Essentially, my daughters would be rendered laboratory guinea pigs in Southern Cal Edison's nuclear experiment, because it is common knowledge that the only way to test the safety of unit #2 is by running it for a 5 month period. We live 35 miles downwind of SONGS! in Solana Beach. | ||
I cannot stress enough that the 3 nuclear reactors in Fukushima CONTINUE to melt down, releasing tons and tons of radioactive run-off water into the Pacific Ocean EVERY day for the last two years. Contrary to popular belief, this disaster is nowhere near being over. While the Japanese government and TEPCO feign decontamination, it is fact that these reactors are still too hot to cap because doing so would cause explosions of unbelievable scale. It is so hot and highly contaminated, in fact, that human workers cannot go inside to commence "repairs". | Mr. Amabile, I took the opportunity to review your agency's "SAN DIEGO COUNTY NUCLEAR POWER PLANT EMERGENCY RESPONSE PLAN" (dated January, 2011). On page x, in the "RECORD OF REVISIONS", I am quite frankly shocked to find that there has been no additional recording lending to any revision of emergency planning FOR TWO YEARS. Essentially, the Office of Emergency Services for San Diego County has swept the reality of the Fukushima Daiichi triple meltdowns under the rug. I cannot stress enough your dire responsibility for the safety of the 2 | ||
Robots cannot even withstand the high radiation; they only cease to operate. Commissioner William Magwood of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission! | |||
speaking at a hearing of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee in Washington last year! said that it is difficult to underestimate the challenge of removing radioactive material from the area. "There will need to be new technologies created fl to accomplish the clean-up, Mr. Magwood said. "And some of these technologies don't exist yet.If http:Ublogs.wsj .com/japanrealtime/20 12/09/13/fukushi ma-watch -japa nese-have-Iost-fa ith-i nuclear-power-u-s-regulatorl Ask any expert and you will find conservative estimates of it taking 10 years or more for these reactors to cool down enough to cap and commence decommissioning. | public. You are vested with protecting us and yet, two years have passed since the Fukushima disaster and there is nothing in your Response Plan to show for the many lessons of Fukushima. | ||
Meanwhile, timed pressure releases of steam are released each week into the environment; into our environment. | On page 40, under section F "Protect Actions", nSheltering" is mentioned. However, there is no mention of sheltering in place for our kids when they are entrusted to their educators at school. My daughters have attended schools here for close to one year and school officials have yet to mention any plan for sheltering in place at school. There is no training program for our teachers to do this, period. How does one "shelter il1 placell during a sports event? And should a radioactive incident occur, it is common knowledge that there are NOT enough school buses to evacuate students to safety. On page 49, under "Evacuation", your plan stipulates citizens driving themselves in their personal vehicles to evacuate. Do you envision us all driving to the schools to pick up our children? Imagine the 8.4 million residents living within a 50 mile radius of SONGS, all driving their own vehicles on Highway 5 to evacuate. I seen nothing more than grid-lock, panic and a failed plan for evacuation. | ||
I can attest to the fact that contamination in NO WAY stays within the evacuation zone of 20 km in Fukushima. | In March of 2011, all registered American ex-patriots in Japan were sent emails by the US Embassy, urging us to evacuate Japan if we lived within 50 miles of the accident: httg:lIgoorrichards blog.blogsgot.com/2011/03/tog-us-officials-jagan-nuclear-reactor.html. Since my return to the US, I have always found it an insult that we don't follow this evacuation protocol on our own soil. | ||
26 out of 47 prefectures in Japan are found to have trace levels of radioactive Cesium in the their municipal water supplies. | Moreover, this document briefly mentions "Terrorism", but only in the context of the September 11 kamikaze terrorist disasters at the Pentagon and The World Trade Center. It is very important to comprehend this threat from all angles. We live in a digital world where the security systems of our very government, not to mention nuclear power plants, are already under siege by cyber threat: http://www.upLcom/Science News/Technology/2012/06/20 | ||
We are talking about a country that, if we put all of the islands together, is the size of California. | |||
Ironically, in January of 2012 while packing our bags for California! | |||
I signed the lease to our present living space just days before the radioactive releases at SONGS! prompting the reactors #2 and #3 to go offline. What were the chances that I'd be running from a triple nuclear meltdown in Fukushima, only to agonize over the risks and dangers of Edison's proposed restart of reactor #2 at 70% power? Essentially, my daughters would be rendered laboratory guinea pigs in Southern Cal Edison's nuclear experiment, because it is common knowledge that the only way to test the safety of unit #2 is by running it for a 5 month period. We live 35 miles downwind of SONGS! in Solana Beach. Mr. Amabile, I took the opportunity to review your agency's "SAN DIEGO COUNTY NUCLEAR POWER PLANT EMERGENCY RESPONSE PLAN" (dated January, 2011). On page x, in the "RECORD OF REVISIONS", I am quite frankly shocked to find that there has been no additional recording lending to any revision of emergency planning FOR TWO YEARS. Essentially, the Office of Emergency Services for San Diego County has swept the reality of the Fukushima Daiichi triple meltdowns under the rug. I cannot stress enough your dire responsibility for the safety of the 2 public. You are vested with protecting us and yet, two years have passed since the Fukushima disaster and there is nothing in your Response Plan to show for the many lessons of Fukushima. | |||
On page 40, under section F "Protect Actions", nSheltering" is mentioned. | |||
However, there is no mention of sheltering in place for our kids when they are entrusted to their educators at school. My daughters have attended schools here for close to one year and school officials have yet to mention any plan for sheltering in place at school. There is no training program for our teachers to do this, period. How does one "shelter il1 | |||
Do you envision us all driving to the schools to pick up our children? | |||
Imagine the 8.4 million residents living within a 50 mile radius of SONGS, all driving their own vehicles on Highway 5 to evacuate. | |||
I seen nothing more than grid-lock, panic and a failed plan for evacuation. | |||
In March of 2011, all registered American ex-patriots in Japan were sent emails by the US Embassy, urging us to evacuate Japan if we lived within 50 miles of the accident: | |||
blog.blogsgot.com/2011/03/tog-us-officials-jagan-nuclear-reactor.html. | |||
Since my return to the US, I have always found it an insult that we don't follow this evacuation protocol on our own soil. Moreover, this document briefly mentions "Terrorism", but only in the context of the September 11 kamikaze terrorist disasters at the Pentagon and The World Trade Center. It is very important to comprehend this threat from all angles. We live in a digital world where the security systems of our very government, not to mention nuclear power plants, are already under siege by threat: http://www.upLcom/Science News/Technology/2012/06/20 | |||
/Iran-complains-of-cyberterrorism/UPI-33471340206675/ | /Iran-complains-of-cyberterrorism/UPI-33471340206675/ | ||
I implore you, Mr. Amabile, to embrace your responsibility to the general public and comb through "SAN DIEGO COUNTY NUCLEAR POWER PLANT EMERGENCY RESPONSE PLAN" with a fine tooth comb. It is sadly remiss with gaping holes. Finally, A growing number of Southern California City Councils, Mayors, Congressmembers, and School Boards have added their voices to concerned citizen's 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, inciudingDel 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 3 | I implore you, Mr. Amabile, to embrace your responsibility to the general public and comb through "SAN DIEGO COUNTY NUCLEAR POWER PLANT EMERGENCY RESPONSE PLAN" with a fine tooth comb. It is sadly remiss with gaping holes. | ||
calls for the NRC to modify its policies and procedures in light of Fukushima meltdowns, to further protect their residents and businesses. | Finally, A growing number of Southern California City Councils, Mayors, Congressmembers, and School Boards have added their voices to concerned citizen's 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, inciudingDel 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 3 | ||
We know that much of this public outcry stems from an apparent lack of transparency concerning both the NRC and Southern California Edison. Put simply, Representative Markey and Senator Boxer had to call for the NRC to release the secret Mitsubishi Heavy Industries documents concerning the replacement steam generators at San Onofre because no other public agency would take responsibility for the safety of the public. I am asking you to error on the side of safety by taking a close look at SONGS, a nuclear power plant on life support, which is costing the ratepayers | |||
$60 million per month while it idles, producing not a watt of energy for over a year. Is this the sort of debacle, if even a small nuclear lIincidentll were to occur, that you would want on your watch at OES? Please contemplate the kind of legacy which you'd like to entrust to future Senior Emergency Services Coordinators. | calls for the NRC to modify its policies and procedures in light of Fukushima meltdowns, to further protect their residents and businesses. We know that much of this public outcry stems from an apparent lack of transparency concerning both the NRC and Southern California Edison. Put simply, Representative Markey and Senator Boxer had to call for the NRC to release the secret Mitsubishi Heavy Industries documents concerning the replacement steam generators at San Onofre because no other public agency would take responsibility for the safety of the public. | ||
Please trust me when I say that your TEPCO counterparts in Fukushima anguish over taking their numerous mistakes with them to their graves. I will leave you with 2 very powerful videos (in English and Japanese) of testimony to both the Japanese House of Parliament and the UN. These clips are of Mayor Idogawa, Mayor of Futaba-a town in Fukushima, heavily affected by radioactive contamination as I write this. Please listen to his appeals to the world regarding the negligence and complicity of the Japanese government vis a vis the ongoing Fukushima nuclear disaster. | I am asking you to error on the side of safety by taking a close look at SONGS, a nuclear power plant on life support, which is costing the ratepayers $60 million per month while it idles, producing not a watt of energy for over a year. Is this the sort of debacle, if even a small nuclear lIincidentll were to occur, that you would want on your watch at OES? Please contemplate the kind of legacy which you'd like to entrust to future Senior Emergency Services Coordinators. Please trust me when I say that your TEPCO counterparts in Fukushima anguish over taking their numerous mistakes with them to their graves. | ||
Mayor Idogawa speaks to Japanese Prime Minister Noda and Parliament at 7:22: http://vV\V\'\T.youtube.com/watch?v=VIBX oCbi40 Mayor Idogawa addresses the UN: http://vvvvw.youtube.com/watch | I will leave you with 2 very powerful videos (in English and Japanese) of testimony to both the Japanese House of Parliament and the UN. These clips are of Mayor Idogawa, Mayor of Futaba-a town in Fukushima, heavily affected by radioactive contamination as I write this. Please listen to his appeals to the world regarding the negligence and complicity of the Japanese government vis a vis the ongoing Fukushima nuclear disaster. | ||
?v= | Mayor Idogawa speaks to Japanese Prime Minister Noda and Parliament at 7:22: | ||
Sent: Wednesday, May 15, 20133:31 PM To: CHAIRMAN Resource; CMRMAGWOOD Resource; CMRAPOSTOLAKIS Resource; CMRSVINICKI Resource; CMROSTENDORFF Resource | http://vV\V\'\T.youtube.com/watch?v=VIBX oCbi40 Mayor Idogawa addresses the UN: | ||
http://vvvvw.youtube.com/watch ?v=ltrvagW451k I thank you very much for taking time out of your busy schedule to read my letter, Mr. Amabile. | |||
Best Regards, Cathy Iwane-concerned mother &evacuee of Japan 744 South Cedros Avenue Solana Beach, CA 92075 4 | |||
Joosten, Sandy From: cathy iwane [cathyiwane@yahoo.com] | |||
Sent: Wednesday, May 15, 20133:31 PM To: CHAIRMAN Resource; CMRMAGWOOD Resource; CMRAPOSTOLAKIS Resource; CMRSVINICKI Resource; CMROSTENDORFF Resource | |||
==Subject:== | ==Subject:== | ||
San Diego OES response letter to me about NRC | San Diego OES response letter to me about NRC | ||
==Dear Mrs. Iwane,== | ==Dear Mrs. Iwane,== | ||
Thank you for your email dated April 2, 2013. I truly appreciate hearing your personal perspective as a mother of young children who experienced the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster first hand. Much of your information talks to actions and decisions taken or not taken by the Japanese government and by the Tokyo Electric Power Company. I am not in a position to comment on those actions and decisions. | |||
What I can do is assure you that we in the San Diego County Office of Emergency Services (OES) understand our responsibility in planning for an emergency at the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS). It is a responsibility we take quite seriously. | Thank you for your email dated April 2, 2013. I truly appreciate hearing your personal perspective as a mother of young children who experienced the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster first hand. | ||
Our planning effort is based on federal regulations (10 CFR Part 50) established by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). We at the local level are required to conform to those regulations. | Much of your information talks to actions and decisions taken or not taken by the Japanese government and by the Tokyo Electric Power Company. I am not in a position to comment on those actions and decisions. What I can do is assure you that we in the San Diego County Office of Emergency Services (OES) understand our responsibility in planning for an emergency at the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS). It is a responsibility we take quite seriously. | ||
Accordingly, we have a ten mile Emergency Planning Zone (EPZ), a 20 mile Public Education Zone and a 50 mile Ingestion Pathway Zone. Federal regulations require that offsite jurisdictions are able to take protective actions to safeguard the people living and/or working within the 10 mile EPZ. Those protective actions can be to shelter in place or evacuate. | Our planning effort is based on federal regulations (10 CFR Part 50) established by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). We at the local level are required to conform to those regulations. Accordingly, we have a ten mile Emergency Planning Zone (EPZ), a 20 mile Public Education Zone and a 50 mile Ingestion Pathway Zone. | ||
The recommended action depends on many variables, such as the duration of the release, wind direction, etc. The objective in any protective action is to prevent, or if that were not possible, to limit radiation exposure to residents. | Federal regulations require that offsite jurisdictions are able to take protective actions to safeguard the people living and/or working within the 10 mile EPZ. Those protective actions can be to shelter in place or evacuate. The recommended action depends on many variables, such as the duration of the release, wind direction, etc. The objective in any protective action is to prevent, or if that were not possible, to limit radiation exposure to residents. Our goal is always zero exposure. | ||
Our goal is always zero exposure. | I would like to provide a brief explanation of the process we use in determining which protective action to implement First, Southern California Edison (SCE) is required to make a Protective Action Recommendation (PAR) based on the level of radiation detected. While that is occurring, San Diego County, Orange County and Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton send radiation monitoring teams into areas around the plant to locate the plume and take soil and air samples to determine the extent of the release off plant grounds. That data, along with the data from the plant is provided to the Offsite Dose Assessment Center (ODAC). ODAC consists of the senior health physicists from both San Diego and Orange Counties, an Oceanside Fire Department Battalion Chief to run the field monitoring teams and a representative from SONGS. The data from the field and the data from the plant are analyzed by the health physicists and they either concur with the plant's recommendation or they provide one of their own. A decision is reached once all jurisdictions come together on a conference call to evaluate the Protective Action Recommendation from the plant as well as the recommendation from ODAC. We have never simply accepted the Protective Action Recommendation provided by the plant Independent analysis and verification is built into our response planning and procedures. | ||
I would like to provide a brief explanation of the process we use in determining which protective action to implement First, Southern California Edison (SCE) is required to make a Protective Action Recommendation (PAR) based on the level of radiation detected. | 1 | ||
While that is occurring, San Diego County, Orange County and Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton send radiation monitoring teams into areas around the plant to locate the plume and take soil and air samples to determine the extent of the release off plant grounds. That data, along with the data from the plant is provided to the Offsite Dose Assessment Center (ODAC). ODAC consists of the senior health physicists from both San Diego and Orange Counties, an Oceanside Fire Department Battalion Chief to run the field monitoring teams and a representative from SONGS. The data from the field and the data from the plant are analyzed by the health physicists and they either concur with the plant's recommendation or they provide one of their own. A decision is reached once all jurisdictions come together on a conference call to evaluate the Protective Action Recommendation from the plant as well as the recommendation from ODAC. We have never simply accepted the Protective Action Recommendation provided by the plant Independent analysis and verification is built into our response planning and procedures. | |||
1 In addition to the planning we do specifically for SONGS, San Diego County has a multi-hazard regional Emergency Operations Plan. This covers the entire County and describes how we will evacuate populations at risk, shelter evacuees, provide emergency information to the public, conduct fire and law enforcement operations, among many other emergency management functions. | In addition to the planning we do specifically for SONGS, San Diego County has a multi-hazard regional Emergency Operations Plan. This covers the entire County and describes how we will evacuate populations at risk, shelter evacuees, provide emergency information to the public, conduct fire and law enforcement operations, among many other emergency management functions. This plan was used in the 2007 wildfires when we successfully evacuated over a half million people, including a large hospital and several skilled nursing facilities. | ||
This plan was used in the 2007 wildfires when we successfully evacuated over a half million people, including a large hospital and several skilled nursing facilities. | Another concern you addressed is that our plan has not been updated to include lessons learned from Fukushima. Many of the lessons learned will require regulatory changes on the part of NRC and FEMA. When federal regulations are changed, OES will be quick to implement the changes. | ||
Another concern you addressed is that our plan has not been updated to include lessons learned from Fukushima. | Our SONGS Emergency Plan (the plan that provides the framework for our response) is updated every four years. In addition to our basic plan we have Inter-jurisdictional Policies (IPs) and local Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) that detail how we perform core functions, such as deployment of field monitoring teams, public information, coordination of offsite response activities, etc. These IPs and SOPs are updated whenever necessary. We just approved a new IP regarding equipment at our last Inter-jurisdictional Planning Committee meeting. | ||
Many of the lessons learned will require regulatory changes on the part of NRC and FEMA. When federal regulations are changed, OES will be quick to implement the changes. Our SONGS Emergency Plan (the plan that provides the framework for our response) is updated every four years. In addition to our basic plan we have Inter-jurisdictional Policies (IPs) and local Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) that detail how we perform core functions, such as deployment of field monitoring teams, public information, coordination of offsite response activities, etc. These IPs and SOPs are updated whenever necessary. | In regards to terrorism, it is true that our SONGS plan does not directly address it. It is addressed in our regional Emergency Operations Plan. You will find that very few, if any, local plans discuss terrorism response in any detail. This is to prevent potential terrorists from learning about our vulnerabilities and how we would respond to their actions. If they had knowledge of our response procedures they could devise ways to circumvent them. | ||
We just approved a new IP regarding equipment at our last Inter-jurisdictional Planning Committee meeting. In regards to terrorism, it is true that our SONGS plan does not directly address it. It is addressed in our regional Emergency Operations Plan. You will find that very few, if any, local plans discuss terrorism response in any detail. This is to prevent potential terrorists from learning about our vulnerabilities and how we would respond to their actions. If they had knowledge of our response procedures they could devise ways to circumvent them. Your next concern is the sheltering of children in their schools. In San Diego County there are no schools within the 10 mile EPZ. The one exception to this is a school on Camp Pendleton. | Your next concern is the sheltering of children in their schools. In San Diego County there are no schools within the 10 mile EPZ. The one exception to this is a school on Camp Pendleton. | ||
This school will follow the protective actions implemented by the base, in consultation with the school district. | This school will follow the protective actions implemented by the base, in consultation with the school district. Schools within the 10 mile EPZ would be expected to be able to shelter in place. | ||
Schools within the 10 mile EPZ would be expected to be able to shelter in place. Schools within the 20 mile Public Education Zone may also be requested to do so, depending on the circumstances of the emergency. | Schools within the 20 mile Public Education Zone may also be requested to do so, depending on the circumstances of the emergency. There is no expectation of a need for sheltering outside of the 20 mile Public Education Zone. However, if circumstances arise and the Offsite Dose Assessment Center recommendation is to provide shelter outside the established planning zone, our sheltering plans are flexible and expandable. As far as schools' ability to act as a shelter, we use schools as shelters as a matter of course during emergencies because they are well equipped for such use. | ||
There is no expectation of a need for sheltering outside of the 20 mile Public Education Zone. However, if circumstances arise and the Offsite Dose Assessment Center recommendation is to provide shelter outside the established planning zone, our sheltering plans are flexible and expandable. | At the end of your email you asked that we consider the call for an adjudicated license amendment hearing. The decision on that matter belongs, appropriately, to the regulatory agency, in this case the NRC. | ||
As far as schools' ability to act as a shelter, we use schools as shelters as a matter of course during emergencies because they are well equipped for such use. At the end of your email you asked that we consider the call for an adjudicated license amendment hearing. The decision on that matter belongs, appropriately, to the regulatory agency, in this case the NRC. I want to reiterate to you that the Office of Emergency Services takes its responsibilities very seriously. | I want to reiterate to you that the Office of Emergency Services takes its responsibilities very seriously. We are aware of the potential risks and consequences of a catastrophic event at SONGS and do not treat them lightly. Our focus is to ensure the San Diego region is always able to protect life, property and the environment during disasters. | ||
We are aware of the potential risks and consequences of a catastrophic event at SONGS and do not treat them lightly. Our focus is to ensure the San Diego region is always able to protect life, property and the environment during disasters. | Best regards, Tom Amabile, Sr. Emergency Services Coordinator Office of Emergency Services (858) 715-2203 (Voicemail) 2 | ||
Best regards, Tom Amabile, Sr. Emergency Services Coordinator Office of Emergency Services (858) 715-2203 (Voicemail) 2 (858) 565-3499 FAX | |||
(858) 565-3499 FAX 3 | |||
x | |||
==Dear Commissioners,== | ==Dear Commissioners,== | ||
Please find Mr. Amabile's response to my worried letter (sent to you just now) about the LACK of preparedness or lessons learned from Fukushima. | |||
He says he is waiting for YOU, the NRC and FEMA to make changes, before he can implement changes to San Diego's manual for Emergency Response in case of nuclear accident at SONGS. See his comments about this in yellow, below. 4 This should be criminal and I will hold you all criminally responsible for negligence, should you restart SONGS and ANY harm comes to my children. | Please find Mr. Amabile's response to my worried letter (sent to you just now) about the LACK of preparedness or lessons learned from Fukushima. He says he is waiting for YOU, the NRC and FEMA to make changes, before he can implement changes to San Diego's manual for Emergency Response in case of nuclear accident at SONGS. See his comments about this in yellow, below. | ||
We have ripped our lives and family from Japan, evacuating the nuclear meltdowns there, only to witness this nightmare unfolding 35 miles away from our present residence. | 4 | ||
This should be criminal and I will hold you all criminally responsible for negligence, should you restart SONGS and ANY harm comes to my children. We have ripped our lives and family from Japan, evacuating the nuclear meltdowns there, only to witness this nightmare unfolding 35 miles away from our present residence. | |||
5}} | 5}} | ||
Latest revision as of 05:37, 6 February 2020
| ML13137A327 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | San Onofre  |
| Issue date: | 05/15/2013 |
| From: | Iwane C Public Commenter |
| To: | Macfarlane A NRC/Chairman |
| Shared Package | |
| ML13137A328 | List: |
| References | |
| LTR-13-0423 | |
| Download: ML13137A327 (9) | |
Text
Joosten, Sandy From: cathy iwane [cathyiwane@yahoo.com]
Sent: Wednesday, May 15, 2013 3:12 PM To: CHAIRMAN Resource; CMRMAGWOOD Resource; CMRAPOSTOLAKIS Resource; CMRSVINICKI Resource; CMROSTENDORFF Resource
Subject:
My worried letter to Tom Amabile of San Diego Office of Emergency Services Mr. Tom Amabile Senior Emergency Services Coordinator San Diego County Office of Emergency Services 5580 Overland Ave #100, San Diego, California 92123 April 2, 2013
Dear Mr. Amabile,
Today I write to you from the perspective of a mother of two daughters, married to a Japanese national, having evacuated Japan after 25 years due to the ongoing triple nuclear meltdowns in Fukushima. We lived with a geiger counter for a year, measuring radioactive contamination in foods and ambient background before making the decision to return to my native California. My husband remains in Japan. Our city, Wakayama, is 380 miles from the Fukushima (the approximate distance from San Francisco to San Diego) reactors and yet, we measured locally caught fish to be highly radioactive in September of 2011. In October, 2011, a City Councilman's soils tests revealed radioactive Cesium to be 5 times pre-Fukushima levels at a park near my home. In May of 2011, after researching ingredients in my daughter's school lunches, I found that only 60%
of them were locally procured. The remainder came from outside areas, including near Fukushima. Despite having taught English at this school for 10 years, my daughter opted out of the school lunch program as I prepared a lunch each day of solely local ingredients. My daughter was forced lie to classmates that she had allergies, thus her homemade lunch. Her principal told me it would cause panic among the PTA at school, to reveal my research with the other mothers.
Presently, 43% of children who remain in Fukushima are diagnosed with tumors and irregularities of the thyroid gland due to radioactive exposure. In Tokyo, radioactive milk from Fukushima is diluted with other milk and is legally being served to school children for lunch. This disaster has torn apart families and communities throughout Japan. Distrust in the governnlent is rampant. TEPCO (Tokyo Electric Power Company, owners of the Fukushima reactors) assured the public that Fukushima Daiichi could withstand large tsunamis and earthquakes. However in hindsight, it was a combination of lack of regulatory agency 1
oversight and lack of proper emergency response and back-up systems failure that is blamed for the accident. TEPeo has finally come clean with a semblance of accountability:
http://www.huffingtonpost.con1/2013/03/29/fukushima-disaster tepco blame n 2978681.html?utm hp ref=fb&src=sp&comm ref=false No one EVER imagined the magnitude of 3/11. Here is my report from November of 2011, on a friend, Ikuko Nitta, who evacuated Fukushima to my home in Wakayama. She now resides with her children in Malaysia: http://www.dianuke.org/wakayama-Iadies against-nukes-a-report/
I cannot stress enough that the 3 nuclear reactors in Fukushima CONTINUE to melt down, releasing tons and tons of radioactive run-off water into the Pacific Ocean EVERY day for the last two years. Contrary to popular belief, this disaster is nowhere near being over. While the Japanese government and TEPCO feign decontamination, it is fact that these reactors are still too hot to cap because doing so would cause explosions of unbelievable scale. It is so hot and highly contaminated, in fact, that human workers cannot go inside to commence "repairs". Robots cannot even withstand the high radiation; they only cease to operate.
Commissioner William Magwood of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission! speaking at a hearing of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee in Washington last year! said that it is difficult to underestimate the challenge of removing radioactive material from the area. "There will need to be new technologies created fl to accomplish the clean-up, Mr. Magwood said. "And some of these technologies don't exist yet. If http:Ublogs.wsj .com/japanrealtime/20 12/09/13/fukushi ma-watch -japa nese-have-Iost-fa ith-i n nuclear-power-u-s-regulatorl Ask any expert and you will find conservative estimates of it taking 10 years or more for these reactors to cool down enough to cap and commence decommissioning. Meanwhile, timed pressure releases of steam are released each week into the environment; into our environment. I can attest to the fact that contamination in NO WAY stays within the evacuation zone of 20 km in Fukushima. 26 out of 47 prefectures in Japan are found to have trace levels of radioactive Cesium in the their municipal water supplies. We are talking about a country that, if we put all of the islands together, is the size of California.
Ironically, in January of 2012 while packing our bags for California! I signed the lease to our present living space just days before the radioactive releases at SONGS! prompting the reactors #2 and #3 to go offline.
What were the chances that I'd be running from a triple nuclear meltdown in Fukushima, only to agonize over the risks and dangers of Edison's proposed restart of reactor #2 at 70% power? Essentially, my daughters would be rendered laboratory guinea pigs in Southern Cal Edison's nuclear experiment, because it is common knowledge that the only way to test the safety of unit #2 is by running it for a 5 month period. We live 35 miles downwind of SONGS! in Solana Beach.
Mr. Amabile, I took the opportunity to review your agency's "SAN DIEGO COUNTY NUCLEAR POWER PLANT EMERGENCY RESPONSE PLAN" (dated January, 2011). On page x, in the "RECORD OF REVISIONS", I am quite frankly shocked to find that there has been no additional recording lending to any revision of emergency planning FOR TWO YEARS. Essentially, the Office of Emergency Services for San Diego County has swept the reality of the Fukushima Daiichi triple meltdowns under the rug. I cannot stress enough your dire responsibility for the safety of the 2
public. You are vested with protecting us and yet, two years have passed since the Fukushima disaster and there is nothing in your Response Plan to show for the many lessons of Fukushima.
On page 40, under section F "Protect Actions", nSheltering" is mentioned. However, there is no mention of sheltering in place for our kids when they are entrusted to their educators at school. My daughters have attended schools here for close to one year and school officials have yet to mention any plan for sheltering in place at school. There is no training program for our teachers to do this, period. How does one "shelter il1 placell during a sports event? And should a radioactive incident occur, it is common knowledge that there are NOT enough school buses to evacuate students to safety. On page 49, under "Evacuation", your plan stipulates citizens driving themselves in their personal vehicles to evacuate. Do you envision us all driving to the schools to pick up our children? Imagine the 8.4 million residents living within a 50 mile radius of SONGS, all driving their own vehicles on Highway 5 to evacuate. I seen nothing more than grid-lock, panic and a failed plan for evacuation.
In March of 2011, all registered American ex-patriots in Japan were sent emails by the US Embassy, urging us to evacuate Japan if we lived within 50 miles of the accident: httg:lIgoorrichards blog.blogsgot.com/2011/03/tog-us-officials-jagan-nuclear-reactor.html. Since my return to the US, I have always found it an insult that we don't follow this evacuation protocol on our own soil.
Moreover, this document briefly mentions "Terrorism", but only in the context of the September 11 kamikaze terrorist disasters at the Pentagon and The World Trade Center. It is very important to comprehend this threat from all angles. We live in a digital world where the security systems of our very government, not to mention nuclear power plants, are already under siege by cyber threat: http://www.upLcom/Science News/Technology/2012/06/20
/Iran-complains-of-cyberterrorism/UPI-33471340206675/
I implore you, Mr. Amabile, to embrace your responsibility to the general public and comb through "SAN DIEGO COUNTY NUCLEAR POWER PLANT EMERGENCY RESPONSE PLAN" with a fine tooth comb. It is sadly remiss with gaping holes.
Finally, A growing number of Southern California City Councils, Mayors, Congressmembers, and School Boards have added their voices to concerned citizen's 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, inciudingDel 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 3
calls for the NRC to modify its policies and procedures in light of Fukushima meltdowns, to further protect their residents and businesses. We know that much of this public outcry stems from an apparent lack of transparency concerning both the NRC and Southern California Edison. Put simply, Representative Markey and Senator Boxer had to call for the NRC to release the secret Mitsubishi Heavy Industries documents concerning the replacement steam generators at San Onofre because no other public agency would take responsibility for the safety of the public.
I am asking you to error on the side of safety by taking a close look at SONGS, a nuclear power plant on life support, which is costing the ratepayers $60 million per month while it idles, producing not a watt of energy for over a year. Is this the sort of debacle, if even a small nuclear lIincidentll were to occur, that you would want on your watch at OES? Please contemplate the kind of legacy which you'd like to entrust to future Senior Emergency Services Coordinators. Please trust me when I say that your TEPCO counterparts in Fukushima anguish over taking their numerous mistakes with them to their graves.
I will leave you with 2 very powerful videos (in English and Japanese) of testimony to both the Japanese House of Parliament and the UN. These clips are of Mayor Idogawa, Mayor of Futaba-a town in Fukushima, heavily affected by radioactive contamination as I write this. Please listen to his appeals to the world regarding the negligence and complicity of the Japanese government vis a vis the ongoing Fukushima nuclear disaster.
Mayor Idogawa speaks to Japanese Prime Minister Noda and Parliament at 7:22:
http://vV\V\'\T.youtube.com/watch?v=VIBX oCbi40 Mayor Idogawa addresses the UN:
http://vvvvw.youtube.com/watch ?v=ltrvagW451k I thank you very much for taking time out of your busy schedule to read my letter, Mr. Amabile.
Best Regards, Cathy Iwane-concerned mother &evacuee of Japan 744 South Cedros Avenue Solana Beach, CA 92075 4
Joosten, Sandy From: cathy iwane [cathyiwane@yahoo.com]
Sent: Wednesday, May 15, 20133:31 PM To: CHAIRMAN Resource; CMRMAGWOOD Resource; CMRAPOSTOLAKIS Resource; CMRSVINICKI Resource; CMROSTENDORFF Resource
Subject:
San Diego OES response letter to me about NRC
Dear Mrs. Iwane,
Thank you for your email dated April 2, 2013. I truly appreciate hearing your personal perspective as a mother of young children who experienced the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster first hand.
Much of your information talks to actions and decisions taken or not taken by the Japanese government and by the Tokyo Electric Power Company. I am not in a position to comment on those actions and decisions. What I can do is assure you that we in the San Diego County Office of Emergency Services (OES) understand our responsibility in planning for an emergency at the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS). It is a responsibility we take quite seriously.
Our planning effort is based on federal regulations (10 CFR Part 50) established by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). We at the local level are required to conform to those regulations. Accordingly, we have a ten mile Emergency Planning Zone (EPZ), a 20 mile Public Education Zone and a 50 mile Ingestion Pathway Zone.
Federal regulations require that offsite jurisdictions are able to take protective actions to safeguard the people living and/or working within the 10 mile EPZ. Those protective actions can be to shelter in place or evacuate. The recommended action depends on many variables, such as the duration of the release, wind direction, etc. The objective in any protective action is to prevent, or if that were not possible, to limit radiation exposure to residents. Our goal is always zero exposure.
I would like to provide a brief explanation of the process we use in determining which protective action to implement First, Southern California Edison (SCE) is required to make a Protective Action Recommendation (PAR) based on the level of radiation detected. While that is occurring, San Diego County, Orange County and Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton send radiation monitoring teams into areas around the plant to locate the plume and take soil and air samples to determine the extent of the release off plant grounds. That data, along with the data from the plant is provided to the Offsite Dose Assessment Center (ODAC). ODAC consists of the senior health physicists from both San Diego and Orange Counties, an Oceanside Fire Department Battalion Chief to run the field monitoring teams and a representative from SONGS. The data from the field and the data from the plant are analyzed by the health physicists and they either concur with the plant's recommendation or they provide one of their own. A decision is reached once all jurisdictions come together on a conference call to evaluate the Protective Action Recommendation from the plant as well as the recommendation from ODAC. We have never simply accepted the Protective Action Recommendation provided by the plant Independent analysis and verification is built into our response planning and procedures.
1
In addition to the planning we do specifically for SONGS, San Diego County has a multi-hazard regional Emergency Operations Plan. This covers the entire County and describes how we will evacuate populations at risk, shelter evacuees, provide emergency information to the public, conduct fire and law enforcement operations, among many other emergency management functions. This plan was used in the 2007 wildfires when we successfully evacuated over a half million people, including a large hospital and several skilled nursing facilities.
Another concern you addressed is that our plan has not been updated to include lessons learned from Fukushima. Many of the lessons learned will require regulatory changes on the part of NRC and FEMA. When federal regulations are changed, OES will be quick to implement the changes.
Our SONGS Emergency Plan (the plan that provides the framework for our response) is updated every four years. In addition to our basic plan we have Inter-jurisdictional Policies (IPs) and local Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) that detail how we perform core functions, such as deployment of field monitoring teams, public information, coordination of offsite response activities, etc. These IPs and SOPs are updated whenever necessary. We just approved a new IP regarding equipment at our last Inter-jurisdictional Planning Committee meeting.
In regards to terrorism, it is true that our SONGS plan does not directly address it. It is addressed in our regional Emergency Operations Plan. You will find that very few, if any, local plans discuss terrorism response in any detail. This is to prevent potential terrorists from learning about our vulnerabilities and how we would respond to their actions. If they had knowledge of our response procedures they could devise ways to circumvent them.
Your next concern is the sheltering of children in their schools. In San Diego County there are no schools within the 10 mile EPZ. The one exception to this is a school on Camp Pendleton.
This school will follow the protective actions implemented by the base, in consultation with the school district. Schools within the 10 mile EPZ would be expected to be able to shelter in place.
Schools within the 20 mile Public Education Zone may also be requested to do so, depending on the circumstances of the emergency. There is no expectation of a need for sheltering outside of the 20 mile Public Education Zone. However, if circumstances arise and the Offsite Dose Assessment Center recommendation is to provide shelter outside the established planning zone, our sheltering plans are flexible and expandable. As far as schools' ability to act as a shelter, we use schools as shelters as a matter of course during emergencies because they are well equipped for such use.
At the end of your email you asked that we consider the call for an adjudicated license amendment hearing. The decision on that matter belongs, appropriately, to the regulatory agency, in this case the NRC.
I want to reiterate to you that the Office of Emergency Services takes its responsibilities very seriously. We are aware of the potential risks and consequences of a catastrophic event at SONGS and do not treat them lightly. Our focus is to ensure the San Diego region is always able to protect life, property and the environment during disasters.
Best regards, Tom Amabile, Sr. Emergency Services Coordinator Office of Emergency Services (858) 715-2203 (Voicemail) 2
(858) 565-3499 FAX 3
x
Dear Commissioners,
Please find Mr. Amabile's response to my worried letter (sent to you just now) about the LACK of preparedness or lessons learned from Fukushima. He says he is waiting for YOU, the NRC and FEMA to make changes, before he can implement changes to San Diego's manual for Emergency Response in case of nuclear accident at SONGS. See his comments about this in yellow, below.
4
This should be criminal and I will hold you all criminally responsible for negligence, should you restart SONGS and ANY harm comes to my children. We have ripped our lives and family from Japan, evacuating the nuclear meltdowns there, only to witness this nightmare unfolding 35 miles away from our present residence.
5