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Former nuclear chief, others express doubts about San Onofre restart plan.

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Former nuclear chief, others express doubts about

San Onofre restart plan.
 

Dave Rice, June 5, 2013.  San Diego Reader

Former Nuclear Regulatory Commission chief Gregory Jaczko stopped short of condemning utility Southern California Edison’s plan to resume operation under partial power at the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station on San Diego’s northern coast, but when pressed at a forum downtown this morning he admitted that “the approach that’s being taken is not one that instills tremendous confidence in me.”

“The reality is we’re generally dealing with old technology, though there have been retrofits to some extent,” Jaczko said with regard to the bulk of nuclear technology currently in service, including the decades-old reactors in place at San Onofre. “I think to a large degree we’d be in a better place if we were replacing those with something else.”

Also appearing on a panel discussing the risks of nuclear power were former Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan, who became a vocal critic of nuclear after the Fukushima Daiichi disaster of 2011, an event he repeatedly referred to through interpreters as “3/11” in the fashion U.S. politicians invoke the September 11 terrorist attacks, and Peter A. Bradford, an adjunct professor at the Vermont Law School, who spoke of his time on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission during the Three Mile Island nuclear incident in 1979. Arnie Gundersen, chief engineer at Fairewinds Associates, who was hired by environmental watchdog group Friends of the Earth to review San Onofre data, also spoke as a panel member and warned that the likelihood of and potential damage from a nuclear mishap were both higher than the public’s perception.

“We’re dealing with a technology that can have 40 great years and one bad day,” Gundersen told the audience, “and that one bad day is bad enough to destroy a country.”

Original story by David Rice:

http://www.sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/news-ticker/2013/jun/05/former-nuclear-chief-others-express-doubts-about-s/

San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 
 
San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station

San Onofre Nuclear Generation Station as seen from the north from San Onofre State Beach.

Location of San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station in California

Country United States
Location San Diego County, California
Coordinates 33°22′8″N 117°33′18″WCoordinates: 33°22′8″N 117°33′18″W
Status Permanent shutdown and planned decommission [1]
Construction began August 1964[2]
Commission date Unit 1: January 1, 1968
Unit 2: August 8, 1983
Unit 3: April 1, 1984
Licence expiration Unit 2: February 16, 2022
Unit 3: November 15, 2022[3]
Decommission date Unit 1: November 30, 1992
Unit 2: Plan announced 7 June 2013
Unit 3: Plan announced 7 June 2013[1]
Owner(s) Southern California Edison (SCE) (Primary; 78.2%), San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) (20%), City of Riverside Utilities Department (1.8%)[4]
Operator(s) Southern California Edison
Architect(s) Bechtel Power Corporation
 
Reactor information
Reactors operational 1 × 1172 MW
1 × 1178 MW
Reactor type(s) Pressurized water reactor
Reactor supplier(s) Westinghouse (Unit 1)
Combustion Engineering (Units 2 & 3)
 
Power generation information
Annual generation 0 MW·y (Was 2,200 MW·y)[5][6]
Website [1]
As of June 2013

Aerial photograph of the power generation station.

The San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS) is an inoperative nuclear power plant located on the Pacific coast of California, in the northwestern corner of San Diego County, south of San Clemente, now planned to be decommissioned. The landmark spherical containment buildings around the reactors are designed to prevent unexpected releases of radiation.

The now-closed facility is owned by Southern California Edison. Edison International, parent of SCE, holds 78.2% ownership in the plant; San Diego Gas & Electric Company, 20%; and the City of Riverside Utilities Department, 1.8%. When fully functional, the plant employed over 2,200 people.[4] The plant is located in Nuclear Regulatory Commission Region IV.

The plant’s first unit, Unit 1, operated from 1968 to 1992.[7] The two remaining reactors, Unit 2 (started in 1983) and Unit 3 (started in 1984), were shut down in January 2012 due to premature wear found on over 3,000 tubes in replacement steam generators, which apparently contributed to the accidental release of a small amount of radioactive steam. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is currently investigating the events that lead to the closure; Senator Barbara Boxer in late May, 2013 called for a criminal investigation.[8]

Southern California Edison announced on June 7, 2013 that it would “permanently retire” Unit 2 and Unit 3, citing “continuing uncertainty about when or if SONGS might return to service” and noting that ongoing regulatory and “administrative processes and appeals” would likely cause any tentative restart plans to be delayed for “more than a year.” Of long-term plans for the San Onofre station, the company stated: “Full retirement of the units prior to decommissioning will take some years in accordance with customary practices. Actual decommissioning will take many years until completion.” [9]



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