GARY HEADRICK, San Clemente
Last week, the California Coastal Commission approved plans to remove all structures above ground at the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station. Of course, we’d all like to see that happen, almost as much as we’d like to see the nuclear waste being transported away to a safer location.
However, we were only given part of the story. A major aspect was hardly mentioned: destroying the spent fuel pools, which are our last line of defense should one of the canisters need to be replaced.
There is a basic question we should all ask ourselves when faced with such consequential decisions: Who do you trust?
Do you trust an industry that faces huge expenses and liability if canisters fail while under their management?
A company of ill repute, Holtec International, that sees $1.3 billion dangling in front of them for promising to take over the nuclear waste storage problem when they only have a series of failures to point to?
Southern California Edison, who lied about the canister full of more radiation than the Chernobyl disaster that was hanging by one-fourth of an inch above an 18-foot drop?
Another captured regulatory agency, who approved designs for replacement steam generators that only lasted for 11 months (not 40 years) before they leaked radiation and permanently closed the plant?
A Coastal Commission that approved the plan to store nuclear waste on our shores and then leave us no pool or hot cell in case something goes wrong?
Who you should trust:
Whistle-blowers who risk careers to warn the public of danger. The Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board (NWTRB), an independent panel of experts who werenominated by the National Academy of Science.
Your fellow citizens who spend countless unpaid hours doing the research and organizing, motivated out of concern for our community and the precious environment we all call home.
A bold young man, Jackson Hinkle, the most knowledgeable candidate on nuclear waste, running for San Clemente City Council, willing to step up in a big way to lead his generation toward a more sustainable future.
When in doubt, question motives and go with the precautionary principle promoted by those in harm’s way. We’re all on the same side for the safest solutions possible.
Send an email to gary@sanclementegreen.org for updates on this issue. Here is a link to our latest newsletter about the canister issue, https://conta.cc/2MCBKn7
If you need more technical data, see SanOnofreSafety.org.
Thanks for taking an interest in this major threat to our community
Anti-nukes cannot be trusted to tell the truth.
Headrick asks, “Do you trust an industry…”
How ironic. One person and one group we know we can’t trust is Gary Headrick and the anti-nuclear, tin-foil hat crowd who have consistently lied about SONGS and the fuel storage at SONGS.
Gary claimed that the tube leak SONGS experienced in early 2012 almost resulted in an accident worse than Fukushima, a preposterous claim untethered to reality. I’ve asked him to defend such hyperbole but he has wisely declined the invitation.
In an interview with news gal, Vikki Vargas, he claimed SONGS planned on rotating fuel in and out of canisters and that moving fuel was highly dangerous despite the fact that fuel has been safely moved more than a million times (literally) in this nation alone.
Gary claimed damaged fuel “could eventually result in an uncontrollable nuclear reaction”, complete malarkey. The fuel is called “spent” for a reason and canisters are specifically designed to prevent criticality.
Local anti-nuke zealots lied about San Onofre’s emergency batteries claiming they were disconnected for four years…utterly false. At the first CEP, anti-nuke, Gene Stone, made a statement claiming TMI’s canisters were leaking and that 2000 MWs of solar generation, apart from rooftop solar, had replaced San Onofre’s generation just since the shutdown. Both statements were false. Anti-nuke, Roger Johnson, foolishly claimed that a truck bomb could take out a Spent Fuel Pool (SFP) from OUTSIDE the PERIMETER, a physics-defying statement that betrayed his unfamiliarity with both SONGS’ robust construction and the location of the SFPs. And then there is his jaw-dropping statement at the first CEP that North Korea has nuclear missiles aimed…AT SAN ONOFRE! There are also his false statements regarding the secrecy of effluent releases even though they are a matter of record any citizen can review on the NRC website.
The propaganda website Gary and his zealots promote mistook the refueling pool for the SFP, featured an “expert” who claimed pressurized water reactors don’t have reactor vessel water level indication (they do), called the anti-nuclear activist Helen Caldicott an independent expert (she has zero training in nuclear power/engineering), hosted a video of an individual claiming science-fiction-like mutations resulted from the TMI accident (complete hokum), and last time I checked, still relied on the Koeberg, South Africa example as the basis for early corrosion scenarios even though they are fully aware that this example was debunked some three years ago.
To the citizens of Orange and South County I say, don’t let the zealotry and dishonesty of a group of activists cloud your judgment. They have demonstrated by their consistent hyperbole, deliberate misstatements of experts including the NRC, and outright lies that they are untrustworthy at any speed.
San Clemente Green’s Gary Headrick went full-bore with a message that all the spent fuel canisters at SONGS would have to be replaced before transportation – except he was dead wrong. Mr. Headrick misread the report from the NWTRB. He has been made aware of his error, yet the tweets and comments related to this error remain, and are still mentioned. Why?
Read more here: https://www.songscommunity.com/need-to-know/overview/san-clemente-green-getting-it-wrong
John, Gary Headrick sacrificed his credibility and integrity long ago on the altar of anti-nuclear zealotry. Facts, engineering studies, and expert testimony apparently mean nothing when one has a narrative to peddle. Take nothing these purveyors of falsehood have said, seriously.