A lawsuit filed in federal court last week aims to force the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to turn over more records related to a 2018 spent-fuel handling mishap at a California nuclear power plant under decommissioning, according to court records.
The suit, filed Jan. 20 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California by Michael Aguirre, a former San Diego city attorney, seeks to uncover whether NRC in 2018 failed to “perform its statutory duties to enforce federal regulations adopted to protect the public against ionizing radiation” following the mishandling of a spent fuel canister at San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station.
In his filing, Aguirre asked the court to use its authority under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) to make NRC hand over all of its communications records for the SONGS investigation.
At deadline Friday for RadWaste Monitor the court had not responded to Aguirre.
The incident in question occurred at the Pendleton, Calif., nuclear plant on Aug. 3, 2018, when a spent fuel canister being loaded onto the plant’s onsite storage pad got stuck, unsupported, nearly 20 feet above where it was supposed to be stowed. After the canister was left perched for about an hour, crews secured it properly.
NRC began its investigation into the SONGS mishap later that month, saying at the time that the near-miss was likely a result of “apparent deficiencies related to the licensee’s operational performance in the areas of training, equipment, procedures and oversight.” The commission fined the plant’s operator, Southern California Edison, $116,000.
