U.S. Rep. Mike Levin (D-Calif.) said Tuesday he plans to introduce legislation that would expedite removal of spent reactor fuel from the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS) in California.
“Today, I was pleased to announce new legislation to ensure that the spent nuclear fuel here in Southern California receives top priority from the federal government for disposal,” Levin tweeted after touring the retired nuclear power plant with Rep. Harley Rouda (D-Calif.).
During a press conference at the San Diego County site, the first-term congressman said he would introduce the bill upon returning to Washington, D.C., following Congress’ two-week spring recess. As of Thursday, a specific date for filing the legislation, along with potential co-sponsors, had not been identified.
The legislation would prioritize removal of spent fuel from nuclear power plants that are undergoing decommissioning and are in high-population regions with significant seismic activity, according to Levin’s office.
All of those factors apply to SONGS, which is in Levin’s 49th Congressional District. Majority owner and licensee Southern California Edison permanently closed the plant in 2013 after faulty steam generators were installed in its two operational reactors.
Contractor Holtec International has been relocating radioactive spent fuel from the two reactors from wet storage into an expanded dry storage pad alongside the Pacific Ocean. However, the process has been suspended since an August 2018 mishap left a spent-fuel canister at risk of being dropped 18 feet into a storage slot. Southern California Edison has accepted a $116,000 penalty from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission and is awaiting authorization to resume the spent-fuel transfer.
Even before the accident, the potential for storage at SONGS of 3.5 million pounds of used fuel for years, if not decades, had been highly contentious. Southern California Edison says the hardened storage canisters and installation are specifically designed to withstand threats including earthquakes, tsunamis, and projectiles. But to resolve a 2017 settlement against expanded on-site storage of used fuel, the company agreed to take a number of steps, including pursuing “commercially reasonable” measures to move the waste off-site.
With input from a panel of experts, the utility is preparing transportation and strategic plans for relocating the spent fuel, according to an April 1 update on the lawsuit settlement. A preferred consultant has also been identified to assist in development of the strategic plan.
The owners of the Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station in Arizona in 2017 declined a request from Southern California Edison to take the spent fuel.
“Southern California Edison welcomes the congressman’s effort to develop solutions to the issues of transportation and long-term storage of spent nuclear fuel,” the company said in a statement following Levin’s announcement. “SCE has been safely storing spent nuclear fuel on site at SONGS for nearly 50 years. We will continue to store spent nuclear fuel safely until it is moved off site to a federally licensed facility.”
The Department of Energy is legally responsible for building a repository for the nation’s commercial spent nuclear fuel. It has not yet received an NRC license for its chosen location at Yucca Mountain, Nev. Meanwhile, Holtec is seeking an NRC license for a storage site in southeastern New Mexico that could temporarily hold up to 173,000 metric tons of spent fuel until the repository is ready. An Orano-Waste Control Specialists joint venture is seeking a license for a storage facility in West Texas with maximum capacity of 40,000 metric tons. The NRC is expected to rule on both applications by mid-2020.
Rouda said the House Oversight and Reform environment subcommittee would this summer conduct a field hearing on nuclear waste. “All Southern Californians live in the shadow of San Onofre, and continuing to store spent fuel on site is unworkable, and unsafe. It’s time for a federal safe storage plan,” he tweeted Tuesday.
Southern California Edison hopes this year to secure full regulatory approval from the state of California to begin primary decommissioning of SONGS reactor Units 2 and 3. An AECOM-EnergySolutions team is managing the project, which is expected to cost $4.4 billion and wrap up by 2028. Reactor Unit 1 was largely decommissioned following its 1992 closure.
