The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission gave the green light Tuesday for resumption of loading used nuclear fuel into dry storage at the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS) in California.
The actual work will resume after plant majority owner Southern California Edison (SCE) and fuel offloading contractor Holtec International review their readiness to restart operations. In a statement Tuesday, SCE did not offer a schedule for that process.
Transferring used fuel from wet to dry storage at the retired nuclear power plant has been on hold for the past nine months following an Aug. 3, 2018, mishap in loading one canister.
While a 100,000-pound 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. That led to an NRC investigation that ended with a $116,000 uncontested fine against SCE, which with Holtec has overhauled its training and procedures.
The NRC said it approved the work restart after determining there were no major detrimental effects in some fuel canisters being scratched while the canisters were transferred.
Southern California Edison and Holtec “have performed a comprehensive review of spent nuclear fuel transfer operations and created a more robust program through better procedures, better training and more intrusive oversight,” utility spokesman John Dobken said by email. “This, in part, includes the addition of cameras and load monitoring equipment which will provide valuable information during download operations.”
At the time of the August 2018 incident, SCE and Holtec had placed 29 of 73 canisters from SONGS reactor Units 3 and 3 into dry storage via the HI-STORM UMAX system.
The NRC has scheduled a public webinar on the matter at noon Pacific time on June 3.
