Jeremy L. Dillon
RW Monitor
6/12/2015
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has approved the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station’s request to exempt the decommissioning facility from some emergency preparedness requirements, the NRC announced late last week. Southern California Edison, the plant operator, argued in its request that a decommissioning facility does not pose as much as a threat as an operating one and therefore does not need the same regulations. The NRC said in its announcement that the Staff findings agreed with SCE, reducing the requirement to only on-site emergency preparedness. “Southern California Edison provided analyses to show the exemptions are warranted because when compared to an operating power reactor, the risk of an offsite radiological release is significantly lower and the types of possible accidents significantly fewer at a nuclear power reactor that has permanently ceased operations and removed fuel from the reactor vessel,” the NRC said. “The NRC staff evaluated and confirmed these analyses and, based on the NRC staff’s evaluation and recommendation, the Commission approved the exemptions March 2.”
SCE Vice President of Decommissioning and Chief Nuclear Officer Tom Palmisano reiterated the safety case of the exemptions in a letter to the SONGS Community Engagement Panel last week. “We recognize that the language surrounding these regulatory approvals can be confusing,” Palmisano wrote. “Currently, the NRC only has emergency planning rules for operating nuclear plants. Emergency plan changes are appropriate because most potential accidents related to an operating plant are no longer possible at shutdown nuclear plants such as San Onofre where fuel has been removed from the reactor.” He added that on-site procedures will remain intact, and that SCE “will continue to coordinate with our off-site partners, and will work with them to address issues through all their hazard plans governed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.”
Lawmakers Aimed to Prevent Reduction in Safety Measures
There had be concern from some stakeholders, including Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Ranking Member Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), on the safety case of allowing the reactor to reduce the emergency plan as well as the use of exemptions to alter the reactor license. Boxer, along with Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Edward Markey (D-Mass.), introduced a series of bills earlier this year aimed at preventing the reduction of safety and security regulations for reactor sites undergoing decommissioning and for the storage of spent nuclear fuel at operating nuclear plants.
The NRC, though, has maintained that it only grants exemptions on a site-by-site basis following a thorough safety review. In an effort to better define the needs of a decommissioning reactor, the NRC charged its staff to begin a decommissioning rulemaking that would establish specific rules at shutdown sites. The NRC had previously undertook the beginning stages of a decommissioning rulemaking in the 1990s, but following the events on Sept. 11, 2001, the Commission’s focus turned to security matters. The NRC Staff has said that a 2020 end date is the realistic goal for completing the rulemaking.
