Just in Case

Managers at the San Onofre nuclear plant say they have action plans for four levels of emergency, all of which will be simulated during this week’s inspection:

1. An unusual event. This can be triggered by almost anything unexpected. The plant has had several, including one caused by a minor power failure. In each case, one of the plant’s special yellow telephones is used to notify key civilian authorities, who monitor the situation to its conclusion.

2. An alert. This automatically opens 10 emergency activation centers within a 10-mile radius of San Onofre and at the plant itself. Each center--basically a conference room with telephones--represents one of the jurisdictions potentially affected by a crisis: the cities of San Clemente, Dana Point and San Juan Capistrano; Orange and San Diego counties; the California Department of Parks and Recreation; Camp Pendleton, which owns the property on which the plant sits; and Southern California Edison, which operates the nuclear generating station.

3. A site area emergency. This means the potential release of radioactive material. At this level, the Capistrano Unified School District would be notified to consider evacuating schoolchildren to areas beyond a 10-mile radius of the plant, and emergency personnel would begin staffing six evacuation reception centers outside the radius in Orange and San Diego counties.

4. A general emergency. An actual release of radiation into the atmosphere would trigger this final stage of alert. As many as 49 warning sirens would sound, and broadcast media would alert people to tune in their radios or televisions for further instruction. After evaluating the size, speed and direction of the nuclear contamination, officials would use broadcast bulletins as well as mobile loudspeakers if necessary to tell people whether to “shelter in place” or evacuate.

Source: San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station. Reported by DAVID HALDANE/Los Angeles Times