South County : Emergency Booklet on San Onofre Mailed

An information booklet about what to do if an emergency occurs at the San Onofre nuclear power plant is being mailed this month to 150,000 homes and businesses located between 10 and 20 miles from the facility.

The booklet is designed to give information about emergency communications and protective actions that should be taken if radiation is released from the plant.

According to Dave Barron, a spokesman for Southern California Edison Co., operator of the facility, the only protective action residents between 10 and 20 miles from the plant would be asked to take in a nuclear emergency is to remain indoors.

The brochure, which is distributed every two years and is in its third printing, also describes how a nuclear power plant works and gives information about radiation. “It’s very basic,” Barron said.

In Orange County, residents of Laguna Beach, Laguna Hills, Laguna Niguel, South Laguna, El Toro and Mission Viejo, along with portions of the Cleveland National Forest, will receive the pamphlet.

Barron said a much more detailed booklet is distributed to residents and businesses within 10 miles of the plant. That booklet, which goes out annually, was most recently released late last year, he said.

It provides detailed maps of escape routes and lists places to go for shelter in a nuclear emergency, Barron said.