When you hear sirens testing the alert system for the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station, will you know what you should do if this alert was for real? The sirens are intended to "alert residents to turn on their radios or television and await emergency instructions." Yet in the event of a radioactive release due to an accident, earthquake, operator error, terrorism or acts of malice and insanity, it is highly likely that there will be no electricity to power radios and televisions.

When an earthquake hit San Luis Obispo County, home of the Diablo Canyon nuclear plant, in December 2003, 56 of the 131 sirens installed to warn residents in the event of a radioactive release at Diablo were not operational. Many cell phone towers were damaged or out of range for communication. Approximately 60,000 residents of California's other reactor community lost power for three to five hours -- precious time in the event of a radioactive release.

The assumption that local law enforcement will be going out and about making announcements to alert the public with megaphones flies in the face of logic. In 2003 the garage doors at two police and fire department garages became derailed in their tracks and would not open. In addition, as the earthquake proved, many first responders may be dealing with extricating victims from buildings, which would compound the problem of notifying the public.

It is highly likely that daily traffic, especially during rush hours, could render emergency plans unworkable. The public need only remember Hurricane Katrina and then add the additional factor of deadly radioactive materials in the air and water to realize that "siren tests" are woefully inadequate -- assuming they function.

Soon Southern California Edison will need to cut two 28-by-28-foot holes in each reactor to replace steam generators and will be transferring highly radioactive waste from overcrowded pools to casks that will be stored at the San Onofre site long after the last kilowatt is produced. It is important to realize that the heavily reinforced reactors are not the most dangerous radioactive containers at the San Onofre nuclear plant -- the biggest risk comes from the waste pools and on-site storage, which increase daily.

The Alliance for Nuclear Responsibility asks you to join us in protecting our children and grandchildren by phasing out the operation of nuclear plants designed in the 1960s, bombarded by radiation for decades and vulnerable to earthquakes, accidents and terrorism.

Community alert siren tests are required by federal regulations and would be used in the event of an emergency at the nuclear plant.

They are intended to alert residents to turn on their radios or televisions and await emergency instructions that would be aired over the Emergency Alert System. The system also can be used by local governments to inform residents of other non-nuclear emergency conditions.

Additional emergency response information can be found in the south Orange County and north San Diego County coastal AT&T telephone directory customer guide White Pages.

- Rochelle Becker is executive director of the Alliance for Nuclear Responsibility.

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