The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission began its on-site inspection Monday of an August mishap in loading used reactor fuel into a storage pad at the retired San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS) in California.
The agency declined to discuss details of the special inspection beyond those laid out in an Aug. 24 press release on the matter. At the time, the NRC said the inspection was expected to last about a week and to involve interviews with personnel, examinations of equipment, and reviews of relevant records. A report should be issued no more than 45 days after the inspection concludes.
San Onofre’s last two remaining power reactors were permanently retired in 2013, and contractor Holtec International has been moving all spent fuel from Unit 2 and 3 at the San Diego County facility from wet to dry storage. On Aug. 3, workers were inserting a fuel canister into one of the below-ground silos at the storage pad near the Pacific Ocean. The canister’s rigging went off-target so the container could not go smoothly into the silo, causing almost an hour’s worth of corrective work.
The incident did not become public knowledge for a few days, sparking concerns about prompt notification from a number of local stakeholders, including the San Clemente city government. Holtec and SONGS majority owner Southern California Edison are also reviewing the incident to improve training, procedures, and policies.
“Spent fuel loading work will not restart until SCE is satisfied that Holtec has taken appropriate corrective actions and the NRC has had an opportunity to complete its on‐site inspection activities,” Southern California Edison said in its latest update on the waste transfer.
The progress report is dated Aug. 31 and cuts off at Aug. 20, As of that day, 1,073 fuel assemblies in 29 canisters from the two reactors had been placed on SONGS’ independent spent fuel storage installation. Another 1,558 assemblies remained in wet storage.
One canister holding 37 assemblies from Unit 3 was listed as being “in process.” It will be kept at SONGS’ Fuel Handling Building until transfer operations resume, the utility said.
