Laguna Beach : City Asks to Be Part of Onofre Emergency Plan
The City Council voted unanimously Tuesday night to send letters to four government agencies, criticizing what it termed the “unworkability” of San Onofre nuclear power plant’s emergency evacuation plan.
The council also expressed the city’s desire to be included in the plan to make it more “realistic.”
Councilman Dan Kenney initiated the proposal as a result of concerns about the recent Chernobyl nuclear plant accident in the Soviet Union. Laguna Beach, 16 miles from the San Onofre plant, is not included in the plant’s 10-mile-radius evacuation plan.
Mayor Martha Collison said she will send letters to the state Office of Emergency Safety, Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Federal Emergency Management Agency and the county, expressing the city’s dissatisfaction at not being included in the plan.
“It’s unrealistic to think that the residents of Laguna Beach are going to sit in their homes while the people of Dana Point drive (in an evacuation) through here,” Kenney said.
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