Monrovia Troop 66 Tours San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station

On the morning of May 12th, 2018, 12 Boy Scouts from Monrovia Troop 66 arrived at San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station. Established in 1969, San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS) was, at one point in time, one of California’s greatest power generators. At its peak, it produced enough electricity to power over 1.4 million homes. Its initial success led to the creation of its second and third units in 1983 and 1984, respectively. However, in spite of all of its success in nuclear energy production, SONGS was shut down in 2013 after faulty replacement parts were delivered to the power plant, which could have potentially led to leakage, further fueling the public’s fears and qualms over nuclear power. The station is now property of Camp Pendleton’s Marine Corps and employs 300 people, most of whom are part of SONGS’s elite security team.

As part of Troop 66’s nuclear science education, we will go back to April 28th, 2018 where these young men were immersed into a world of physics and nuclear science. Marie Blatnik, Nuclear Physicist & Caltech Graduate Student educated our Scouts for 8 hours. Ms. Blatnik is an amazing professor and has an ability to teach graduate level material to our Scouts where they not only grasped it but enjoyed it. They learned about radiation, the periodic table elements, modern particle physics, radiation safety, elemental decay, how nuclear energy is used to produce energy and the use of Giger counters to detect real radiated materials. Ms. Blatnik gave them a tour of the Caltech lab where real-world applications are developed and created. She was able to give Troop 66 an experience into a world that not many see and into a career that not many know about. Ms. Blatnik went out of her way to help our Scouts by becoming trained as a merit badge counselor for our Troop and for this we are truly indebted to her.

Now back to San Onofre; Ms. Blatnik was able to join Troop 66 for their guided tour of SONGS, stopping at designated “learning stations” where trained radiation and nuclear professionals educated the scouts on everything related to nuclear power and its management. The first of many stations was about radiation, seemingly the most notorious and fear-inducing bi-product of nuclear energy. The Scouts learned all about how radioactivity was measured and managed in order to maintain a safe working environment for all SONGS employees. Each station educated the scouts on different aspects of the power plant, from radiation hazards, to the inner core of the reactor and how the energy is transformed to steam to power the generators.

The tour was nothing but educating and a once in a lifetime opportunity for these scouts as SONGS will not be around to tour much longer. Our tour could not have been possible if it was not for the coordination and help of Julie Holt, Mechanical Engineer & Radiation Protection Technician. This day turned into a Scout day with her planning where Troop 66 hosted 3 other Troops at this tour and Ms. Holt turned a simple tour into an amazing education that impacted over 40 Scouts.

A very special Thank you to the team from SCE, SONGS and Nuclear Subject Matter Experts John Ramsdell, Scott Genschaw, John Mourer, Vinny Barone, Engineering Manager; Liese Mosher, Tammy Bauer, Lynn Sakamoto, John Scott, Health Physicist & Radiation Protection Technician, and Julie Holt, Mechanical Engineer & Radiation Protection Technician. A Heartfelt Thank you to Ms. Marie Blatnik of Caltech for your unwavering desire to educate our youth and for your passion in nuclear science so that others may benefit from your knowledge.

Troop 66 Boy Scouts who were part of this journey were Willem Aponno, Austin Arias, Adrian Guerrero, Roman Bonilla (Troop 185), Lucas Guerrero, Xavier Jaso, Nathan Juarez, William Kurutz, Devin Mari, Dylan Mari, Degas M. Peters, and Joe Vierheilig, and leaders David Mari, Asst. Scout Master, Peter Vierheilig, Asst. Scout Master, Rhonda Aponno, Asst. Scout Master and Sam Kurutz, Asst. Scout Master.