Emergency personnel from throughout Southern California will convene at San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station on Tuesday to simulate an accident at the seaside power plant.
The drill will test the emergency plan designed to protect the public if there were ever a release of radiation from either of San Onofre's twin nuclear reactors. The power plant is about 17 miles north of Oceanside, near the Orange County town of San Clemente.
The exercise was planned long before last month's devastating earthquake and tsunami in northeast Japan that crippled that country's Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant, leading to a near meltdown that has leaked radiation into the atmosphere and renewed questions worldwide about the safety of nuclear energy.
Read the rest of this story from NBC San Diego's media partner, The North County Times.
