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NUKES AND FIRE – California Wildfires and Nuclear Dangers

Libbe’s Story: January 14, 2025

I live in Los Angeles in the foothills less than a mile away from what became the Eaton (Altadena/Pasadena) fire Evacuation Warning zone.

There was no new Nuclear Hotseat last week because after the Eaton fire broke out on Tuesday, I lost power and internet for more than 32 hours – as well as being under the stress of possibly needing to evacuate at a moment’s notice (and in the middle of the worst toothache of my life!). The winds were gusting up to 100 MPH, and only a few miles away from where I live, embers were being blown sideways, simultaneously setting whole neighborhoods afire. I packed my car, made arrangements with friends who had space for Munchkin and me to evacuate, and tried to stay in the moment instead of catastrophizing the worst.

After a very intense several days, the danger receded, as did the border of the evacuation zone, and it seemed that I had escaped with my home and life intact. Only the shadows of PTSD – which everyone in Los Angeles is suffering from, whether they lost their homes or not – remained, motivating me to check disaster maps and evacuation updates multiple times every day and throughout the night, sleeping with my clothes on… and not unpacking the car.

Many of you reached out to me, and I’m deeply grateful for your concern and support. As you might imagine, during this time I received numerous email, texts, and Facebook questions on whether any nukes have been at risk. San Onofre is 70 miles from where I live and Diablo Canyon a good 160 miles away, so there didn’t seem to be any immediate danger to them. But what are the dangers in general of fire and nukes? What are we up against?

To find out, I spoke with several experts to gain their insights. Our topics ranged more widely than I had anticipated, including:

• 
  the difference between a line fire and a mass fire
• why reporters must NEVER evoke Hiroshima or Nagasaki as a comparison to the fire devastation here
• fire hazards posed by exposed spent fuel pools and fuel storage canisters
• how Southern California Edison retains a flawed power transmission tower system that may have contributed to the start of the Altadena/Pasadena Eaton fire
• radiation releases from fire in a radioactive materials dump zone such as the Santa Susana Field Lab (only 30 miles away)

…and other nuclear dangers created by wildfires at nuclear sites.

I learned more than I expected, information I’d not encountered before and that you probably haven’t, either. I will try to get this program into the hands and ears of reporters who can do a more thorough, focused job of following up. There are important aspects to nuclear’s vulnerability to fire, and given the nature of this current wildfire catastrophe – with maybe worse to come – we can’t assume safety when it’s clear that no one can.

In the meantime… I’m not unpacking the car.

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January 17, 2025 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Uncategorized