Here Today, Gone To Morro: September 2011

Diablo Canyon is surrounded by lots of untouched, pristine habitat.

My work had the opportunity to table an event at PG&E's Diablo Canyon a nuclear power plant located at Avila Beach (front access). It is a national security area, so there was quite a bit of hoopla before we even entered the plant. All of our personal info had to be given to security prior to the event so they could run a background check. Then, once we were in there, we had to show our ID, go through a full body scan machine that blew puffs of air (weird feeling), and then the regular scan and conveyor belt contraption like that of the airport.

But that's not all! We had to be accompanied by a PG&E escort at ALL times. I'm not kidding. We couldn't even go to the bathroom by ourselves. We were instructed to hold the stair handrails at all times. Most of didn't, but our escort pleaded with us to do so. She said she got written up before for not enforcing the rules. There were lots of guys with the big automatic rifles (I'm not even going to say the names of those guns because I have no idea what they're called...M16s or whatever!!).

The eerie thing about the day was that it was especially foggy and socked in. Very spooky and unsettling. When we left the building (no escorts needed), we were walking out to our car, which was quite a distance to the lot, and we started hearing an alarm go off. My colleague and I looked at each other and froze! Luckily, the guy behind us shouted that it was just a test alarm. Phew!

So, while it does seem like overkill, I do appreciate the security. It is a nuclear power plant after all!

There were about 20+ other nonprofits that participated. It was fun to network with other folks and exhausting to talk to the PG&E employees. All in all, it was a highly successful event for us.

My colleague and I had a lot of fun hanging out together all day.