The California Coastal Commission postponed its scheduled consideration this week of a permit that would allow primary decommissioning operations to begin at the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS).
The permit had been on the agenda for Wednesday, the first day of the commission’s three-day June meeting in San Diego. The discussion has been pushed back to September or October to allow staff to gather additional information from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission and SONGS majority owner Southern California Edison (SCE), Coastal Commission spokeswoman Noaki Schwartz said by email.
There was no additional detail at deadline Friday regarding the information the state agency is seeking.
“While any delay in the effort to decommission the San Onofre nuclear plant is disappointing, we understand the prudency of taking additional time to more fully address any outstanding questions the Commission may have,” Southern California Edison said in a statement Thursday. “SCE will make every effort to respond in an expeditious fashion, working with Commission staff, to provide information that supports the ultimate decision on our Coastal Development Permit.”
Separately, SCE announced Thursday that it had hired North Wind Inc. to prepare a strategic plan for potential off-site relocation of SONGS’ spent nuclear fuel. The plan is part of the utility’s efforts to meet its commitment to a 2017 settlement of a lawsuit over used fuel storage at the retired power plant.
The San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station stands on a land easement at U.S. Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton in San Diego County. Of its three reactors, Unit 1 was retired in 1992 and has been largely decommissioned. Units 2 and 3 were permanently retired in 2013, and SCE in 2016 hired an AECOM-EnergySolutions joint venture to manage the $4.4 billion decommissioning of the two reactors.
All ground-disturbing work will require a state coastal development permit. The new permit would cover only onshore decommissioning for Units 2 and 3. Offshore work would require a separate state permit, which SCE expects to apply for two years from now.
The California State Lands Commission in March approved a report on the environmental impacts of decommissioning the two reactors, a required step in eventual Coastal Commission review of the coastal development permit application. Staff at the commission has recommended approval, but it had not been clear whether a vote was in the offing for this week.
Southern California Edison hopes decommissioning will begin this year and wrap up by 2028. The long list of operations includes radiological remediation, removing other hazards, disassembly of the reactor vessel components, removal of other large parts, and dismantling the containment structures.
Even as it prepares for decommissioning, SCE has drawn more attention for its transfer of used fuel from reactor Units 2 and 3 into an expanded dry storage facility near the Pacific Ocean, carried out by contractor Holtec International.
Last August, as a 50-ton canister of spent fuel was being inserted into a cylindrical hole on the dry storage pad, the vessel became lodged on a shield ring and was at risk for a nearly 20-foot uncontrolled drop. It took personnel nearly an hour to identify and correct the problem.
Following an inspection, the NRC determined in November SCE failed to maintain redundant protection to keep the 50-ton canister from dropping 18 feet by letting its loading straps go slack; failed to report the incident in a timely manner in taking three days instead of the required one day; lacked procedures to deal with the incident; inadequately trained the workers conducting the fuel transfer; and failed to take proper, timely action immediately after the mishap occurred. The utility paid a $116,000 fine and made a number of improvements to its used fuel offload program.
At the time of the incident, 44 of 73 canisters of spent fuel remained to be relocated to the storage pad. Eventually, it will hold about 3.5 million pounds of fuel assemblies from all three reactors.
In late May, the federal regulator gave its approval for resumption of loading used nuclear fuel into dry storage at SONGS. The fuel transfer will resume after SCE and Holtec review their readiness to restart operations after a 10-month suspension. No date for resumption is set yet. The utility has pushed back the project’s anticipated completion date from early 2019 to spring 2020.
Keeping the radioactive spent fuel on-site in a seismically active, densely populated region next to the Pacific Ocean was controversial long before the 2018 mishap.
In August 2017, SCE agreed to take a number of steps toward moving the waste to another location to resolve a lawsuit from a local watchdog group that had challenged the Coastal Commission’s approval of expanding the storage pad to accommodate the used fuel from Units 2 and 3.
The settlement allowed Southern California Edison to proceed with the spent fuel offload while it pursued “commercially reasonable” efforts to find an off-site home for the material. Among its commitments in the deal was preparation of a strategic plan “to support the development of a Commercially Reasonable Offsite Storage Facility.”
North Wind has formed a team of consultants, some from the company and others external, to prepare the strategic plan over the next 20 months, according to an SCE press release. The team will feature former Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz, along with experts in fuel handling, transportation logistics, regulatory compliance, and other aspects of used fuel management.
“SCE looks forward to the development of a strategic plan that brings us closer to long-term solutions for moving spent nuclear fuel off-site,” said Kevin Walker, SCE senior vice president for customer and operational services, said in the press release. “The North Wind team is uniquely qualified to lead this effort and provide a roadmap that will benefit the local community, SCE customers, other stakeholders and the nuclear energy industry overall.”
A Southern California Edison spokesman did not release the value of the North Wind contract, but noted the company agreed to spend up to $4 million in total to meet its commitments in the 2017 settlement.
