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ROSEMEAD, Calif., (Oct. 23, 2012) — The annual siren test for the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station will take place Wednesday, Oct. 24.
The nuclear plant's Community Alert Siren System will involve the cities of Dana Point, San Clemente and San Juan Capistrano, as well as other areas of southern Orange County, nearby state parks and at the Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton.
"Protecting the health and safety of workers and the public is our most important responsibility," said Pete Dietrich, Southern California Edison (SCE) senior vice president and chief nuclear officer. "In a real emergency the siren system would alert residents to turn on their radio or TV for emergency response information from public officials."
Fifty sirens will sound several times in the communities around the San Onofre plant from 10 a.m. to noon and will last about three minutes each time. The sirens sound a continuous steady tone, making them noticeably different from sirens used by fire and police departments.
Flyers and other educational materials explaining the test have been distributed to residents, businesses and schools in the area. Before and during the siren test, broadcasts on Orange County’s primary Emergency Alert System radio station, KWVE 107.9, will inform the public of the test.
The sirens are activated by Orange County, the cities of Dana Point, San Clemente and San Juan Capistrano, state parks officials and Camp Pendleton. The sirens also could be used by local government officials to inform residents of a non-nuclear emergency.
Both units of the San Onofre plant are currently safely shut down. Unit 2 was taken out of service Jan. 9 for a planned outage. Unit 3 was safely taken offline Jan. 31 after station operators detected a leak in a steam generator tube.
More information is available at www.edison.com/songsupdate and at www.SONGScommunity.com. San Onofre is jointly owned by Southern California Edison (78.21 percent), San Diego Gas & Electric (20 percent) and the city of Riverside (1.79 percent).
About Southern California Edison
An Edison International (NYSE:EIX) company, Southern California Edison is one of the nation’s largest electric utilities, serving a population of nearly 14 million via 4.9 million customer accounts in a 50,000-square-mile service area within Central, Coastal and Southern California.
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