Drill simulates nuclear disaster

Marisa O’Neil

Emergency workers held a drill Wednesday to practice how they would

respond to a radiation leak at a nearby nuclear power plant.

Although Costa Mesa is far enough away from the San Onofre Nuclear

Generating Station to escape contamination in a meltdown, the

fairgrounds provided a good place to assemble all the players

necessary for such an event, coordinator Denise Bundy said. Nearly

200 workers and volunteers simulated evacuations and decontamination

for the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s required drill.

“This practice helps us get better at what we do, so when disaster

strikes, we don’t go: ‘What do we do?’” Red Cross spokesman Pedro

Polidano said. “We’ll know what to do.”

Wednesday’s drill brought together workers from the county

Sheriff’s Department, Health Care Agency and Fire Authority, as well

as the Red Cross and Costa Mesa Fire Department. The county must

demonstrate its proficiency every six years with such drills, which

are evaluated by FEMA workers.

If a nuclear emergency occurred at the San Onofre station, people

in San Clemente, Dana Point and San Juan Capistrano could suffer the

effects of radiation, Bundy said. Emergency workers would then have

to evacuate and decontaminate residents and would distribute

potassium iodide to them.

Potassium iodide saturates the thyroid with potassium, blocking

its ability to absorb radiation, Bundy said. It helps those exposed

to radiation fight off its effects.

During Wednesday’s drill, participants had to check in workers,

set up decontamination showers, evacuate residents and register them

in a Red Cross shelter.

Members of the Mesa Emergency Services Amateur Communications team

-- the Costa Mesa group known as MESAC -- helped out with radio

communications and checking in the emergency workers, member Michael

Oviatt said.

“We registered 100 emergency workers in half an hour,” Oviatt

said.

FEMA will release a report after its analysis of the county’s

preparedness. The two-hour exercise seemed to go smoothly and gave

city firefighters a chance to practice for a large-scale emergency,

Costa Mesa Fire Department Battalion Chief Chris Riley said.

“It’s an outstanding opportunity to draw on our skills in this

area,” he said.