San Onofre Nuclear Generating station: Difference between revisions

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|image =  
|image =  
[[file:919AAEF6-A8B0-47CF-B369-19D2C3CE61C9.jpeg|thumbnail]]
[[file:919AAEF6-A8B0-47CF-B369-19D2C3CE61C9.jpeg|thumbnail]]
|caption = A Whelen WPS-2810 that's part of the system. This particular unit is located in Dana Point, and replaced a Model 120. Photo Credit to Aaron Allevato (Duderocks5539).
|caption = A Whelen WPS-2810 that was a part of the latest and final iteration of the system. This particular unit was located in Dana Point and was marked siren location DP-05.  
|type =  Nuclear
|type =  Nuclear
|location =  San Clemente/San Onofre, California.  
|location =  South Orange County/North San Diego County, California.  
|installdate = ''Original system:'' 1981-1982<br>''Current system:'' 2005-2006
|installdate = ''Original system:'' 1981 (Sentries), 1982 (STL-10s) and (Model 120s)<br>''Latest system:'' November 2005 - Febuary 2006
|status =  Inactive (Almost all sirens removed, except sirens located on MCAS Camp Pendelton)
|status =  39 out of the 50 sirens '''Removed''', Only the 10 SONGS sirens located on MCAS Camp Pendleton remain.
|testdate =   3rd week of October on a Wednesday annually for three, three minute alerts.  
7 poles in Dana Point also remain, but empty which will support new sirens in the future to be used by the city for other emergencies.
|testdate = Annually 3rd week of October on a Wednesday for three, three minute alerts.
''Original:'' Same time of the year but only for two, four minute alerts. Was done in September until 1995 when it was changed to Mid October which remained the same until the final test.
|testtime =  10:00 AM to 12:00 PM
|testtime =  10:00 AM to 12:00 PM
''Original:'' 11:00 AM to 12:00 PM
}}
}}
The '''San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS) Sirens''' are a network of 50 sirens located within a 10-mile radius of the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station located in San Clemente, California. There are 24 [[WPS-2800 series|WPS-2810]] , and 26 [[WPS-2800 series|WPS-2806]], sirens. These sirens are activated by the four Jurisdictions the sirens are placed in, which is San Juan Capistrano, Dana Point, San Clemente, and MCAS Camp Pendelton.
The '''San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS) ''' Community Alert Siren System was a network of 50 sirens located within a 10-mile radius of the now shut down San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station located just past San Clemente, California. There were 24 [[WPS-2800 series|WPS-2810]] , and 26 [[WPS-2800 series|WPS-2806]], sirens. These sirens were activated by the four Jurisdictions the sirens are placed in, which is San Juan Capistrano, Dana Point, San Clemente, and MCAS Camp Pendleton which are all located in South Orange County.
The system was lasted tested fully on October 15th, 2014 due to SONGS being decommissioned, and the NRC not requiring full tests anymore. So after that, the system has only been booped/growl tested in each jurisdiction one by one every June from June 2015 to June 2018 since the plant was still in charge of them, and had to make sure they were still working in case the cities needed to use them for other emergencies. But in late 2018, it was announced that SONGS will no longer be in charge of the system after June 30th, 2019. The cities were given the option to keep them and maintain and test them for themselves shortly after the plant announced their plan with the sirens, but none decided to keep them, and they want them removed, so because of this, the plant did not do boop tests for June 2019. On july 1st, 2019, all the sirens were deactivated, and a few months later in December 2019, they were gradually removed. This is what will happen now, all 9 sirens located in San Juan Capistrano are being completely removed, including their poles, but the ones that have street lights on their poles will be the only poles that remain, along with the ones mounted on electrical line poles to support the existing electrical lines. Dana Point will be keeping 7 out of the 8 sirens, with one being removed completely along with its pole, the other 7 will remain, but the Whelens are being replaced with different sirens that will bolted on the existing SONGS poles which originally supported the Model 120s and STL-10s, and also the Whelen 2810s and 2806s. As of December 2019, the poles remain empty with no siren or equipment mounted on them, but new sirens will be up on the poles within a few months, and they will be used for emergencies such as tsunamis. San Clemente is doing the same thing as San Juan Capistrano, except San Clemente has 19 sirens, (The most sirens out of any other city in the 10-mile radius of SONGS.) They will only be keeping poles that have street lights on them, and poles that support electrical lines. MCAS Camp Pendelton will be keeping their 10, and will be tied in with their system of Cooper WAVES sirens. So you can say only 10 SONGS sirens are remaining, with others being the poles the sirens once stood on with street lights or electrical lines. And 7 SONGS poles that will remain completely intact and will support new sirens that will be used by Dana Point.


The system was lasted tested fully on October 15th, 2014 due to SONGS being decommissioned (which was announced in June 2013), and the NRC not requiring full tests anymore. So after that, the system has only been booped/growl tested in each jurisdiction one by one every June from June 2015 to June 2018 since the plant was still in charge of them, and had to make sure they were still working in case the cities needed to use them for other emergencies. But in late 2018, it was announced that SONGS will no longer be in charge of the system after June 30th, 2019.


Most sirens in the system ran on 435 HZ ESC-2020s, but around 2012, some had they're ESC-2020 cabinets ungraded to ESC-2030 logic boards and are 560 HZ. This plant used to have [[Model 120]] and [[STL-10]] Sirens, that were gradually replaced by the Whelens starting in November 2005, and completed in February/March 2006. Last test of the old system before replacement was October 26th, 2005. And last test of the current system before not being fully tested anymore was October 15th, 2014.
The cities were given the option to keep them and maintain and test them for themselves shortly after the plant announced their plan with the sirens, but 2 out of the 4 decided to keep them which is the 10 on MCAS Camp Pendleton and the 8 in Dana Point, but opted to remove one location completely and replace the 2800s, but keeping the original poles, so because of this, the plant did not do boop tests for June 2019. On July 1st, 2019, all the sirens were deactivated, and a few months later in December 2019, they were gradually removed.  




All 9 sirens located in San Juan Capistrano were completely removed and all 17 sirens in San Clemente were removed as well, but the poles that have street lights and high voltage power lines attached are the only poles that remain in those 2 cites. Dana Point kept 7 out of the 8 poles, but removed the 2800 heads and cabinets, with 1 being removed completely along with its pole.
As of February 2020, the poles in Dana Point remain empty with no siren or equipment mounted on them, but new sirens will be up on the poles eventually, and they will be used for emergencies such as tsunamis. San Clemente is doing the same thing as San Juan Capistrano, except San Clemente has 19 sirens, (The most sirens out of any other city in the 10-mile radius of SONGS.) They will only be keeping poles that have street lights on them, and poles that support electrical lines. MCAS Camp Pendleton kept their 10 existing 2800s, and is now tied in with their system of Cooper WAVES sirens.
All sirens in the system ran on 435 HZ ESC-2020s, but around 2012, some had their ESC-2020 cabinets ungraded to ESC-2030 logic boards that were 560 HZ. This plant used to have [[Model 120]] and [[STL-10]] Sirens, that were gradually replaced by the Whelens starting in November 2005, and completed in December 2005/January 2006. Last test of the old system before replacement was October 26th, 2005. And last test of the latest system before not being fully tested anymore was October 15th, 2014.
Unlike most run of the mill Whelen systems that are mostly always activated by via radio, San Onofre's system was hardwired, and activated by via landline DTMF. This applied to both the legacy and latest systems. It is unknown why the system even from the start was not just radio activated, but it could be because either for security reasons, or the lack of repeater towers nearby or close to the area all the sirens are in, and there was already landline infrastructure in place before the original system was even installed.
[[File:IMG 7890.jpeg|thumb|left|upright|A [[Model 120]] that was once apart of the system in 2003 illuminated by a spot light in the night sky.]]
[[File:IMG 7065.jpeg|thumb|left|upright|A [[STL-10]] that was once apart of the system in 2001.]]
[[File:IMG 1144.jpeg|thumb|right|SONGS Siren Location SC-04 being prepped for removal by contractors.]]
[[File:IMG 2499.JPG|thumb|right|Last ever picture of a handful of Whelens from the last iteration of the system after arriving at a Edison contracted scrap yard in Long Beach, California in late February 2020.]]
== See Also ==
* News story about the system deactivation: https://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/san-onofre-nuclear-plant-sirens-deactivated_los-angeles/78065/
* Community Alert Siren System video: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:San_Onofre_Nuclear_Generating_Station_(SONGS)_Community_Alert_Siren_System_video.webm
* News bulletin regarding final full scale activation 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jvNXRqKbYtg
* News bulletin regarding final full scale activation 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPRF_iJ2KnU
* Annual test 2009: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6b2OB7O7L9o
* Complete map with all systems of the plant from oldest to newest: https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=1ThREQkR3Q7r2E0r3CYooVhCot_KzHX7l&usp=sharing


[[Category:Systems that use Whelen sirens]][[Category:California systems]][[Category:Nuclear power plant systems]][[Category:Systems]]
[[Category:Systems that use Whelen sirens]][[Category:California systems]][[Category:Nuclear power plant systems]][[Category:Systems]]

Latest revision as of 01:13, 15 September 2023

San Onofre Nuclear Generating station

A Whelen WPS-2810 that was a part of the latest and final iteration of the system. This particular unit was located in Dana Point and was marked siren location DP-05.

Type Nuclear
Location South Orange County/North San Diego County, California.
Date installed Original system: 1981 (Sentries), 1982 (STL-10s) and (Model 120s)
Latest system: November 2005 - Febuary 2006
Status 39 out of the 50 sirens Removed, Only the 10 SONGS sirens located on MCAS Camp Pendleton remain.

7 poles in Dana Point also remain, but empty which will support new sirens in the future to be used by the city for other emergencies.

Testing dates Annually 3rd week of October on a Wednesday for three, three minute alerts.

Original: Same time of the year but only for two, four minute alerts. Was done in September until 1995 when it was changed to Mid October which remained the same until the final test.

Testing times 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM

Original: 11:00 AM to 12:00 PM

The San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS) Community Alert Siren System was a network of 50 sirens located within a 10-mile radius of the now shut down San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station located just past San Clemente, California. There were 24 WPS-2810 , and 26 WPS-2806, sirens. These sirens were activated by the four Jurisdictions the sirens are placed in, which is San Juan Capistrano, Dana Point, San Clemente, and MCAS Camp Pendleton which are all located in South Orange County.

The system was lasted tested fully on October 15th, 2014 due to SONGS being decommissioned (which was announced in June 2013), and the NRC not requiring full tests anymore. So after that, the system has only been booped/growl tested in each jurisdiction one by one every June from June 2015 to June 2018 since the plant was still in charge of them, and had to make sure they were still working in case the cities needed to use them for other emergencies. But in late 2018, it was announced that SONGS will no longer be in charge of the system after June 30th, 2019.

The cities were given the option to keep them and maintain and test them for themselves shortly after the plant announced their plan with the sirens, but 2 out of the 4 decided to keep them which is the 10 on MCAS Camp Pendleton and the 8 in Dana Point, but opted to remove one location completely and replace the 2800s, but keeping the original poles, so because of this, the plant did not do boop tests for June 2019. On July 1st, 2019, all the sirens were deactivated, and a few months later in December 2019, they were gradually removed.


All 9 sirens located in San Juan Capistrano were completely removed and all 17 sirens in San Clemente were removed as well, but the poles that have street lights and high voltage power lines attached are the only poles that remain in those 2 cites. Dana Point kept 7 out of the 8 poles, but removed the 2800 heads and cabinets, with 1 being removed completely along with its pole.

As of February 2020, the poles in Dana Point remain empty with no siren or equipment mounted on them, but new sirens will be up on the poles eventually, and they will be used for emergencies such as tsunamis. San Clemente is doing the same thing as San Juan Capistrano, except San Clemente has 19 sirens, (The most sirens out of any other city in the 10-mile radius of SONGS.) They will only be keeping poles that have street lights on them, and poles that support electrical lines. MCAS Camp Pendleton kept their 10 existing 2800s, and is now tied in with their system of Cooper WAVES sirens.


All sirens in the system ran on 435 HZ ESC-2020s, but around 2012, some had their ESC-2020 cabinets ungraded to ESC-2030 logic boards that were 560 HZ. This plant used to have Model 120 and STL-10 Sirens, that were gradually replaced by the Whelens starting in November 2005, and completed in December 2005/January 2006. Last test of the old system before replacement was October 26th, 2005. And last test of the latest system before not being fully tested anymore was October 15th, 2014.

Unlike most run of the mill Whelen systems that are mostly always activated by via radio, San Onofre's system was hardwired, and activated by via landline DTMF. This applied to both the legacy and latest systems. It is unknown why the system even from the start was not just radio activated, but it could be because either for security reasons, or the lack of repeater towers nearby or close to the area all the sirens are in, and there was already landline infrastructure in place before the original system was even installed.

A Model 120 that was once apart of the system in 2003 illuminated by a spot light in the night sky.
A STL-10 that was once apart of the system in 2001.
SONGS Siren Location SC-04 being prepped for removal by contractors.
Last ever picture of a handful of Whelens from the last iteration of the system after arriving at a Edison contracted scrap yard in Long Beach, California in late February 2020.

See Also

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