The state of California should by the first quarter of 2019 give formal approval for major decommissioning to begin on the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS), an executive with the decommissioning general contractor said Friday.
SONGS Decommissioning Solutions, a partnership of AECOM and EnergySolutions, expects the California State Lands Commission will by the end of June release the draft version of the required environmental impact report for the project. That begins a public comment period of at least 60 days on the document, according to Matthew Marston, senior vice president and executive sponsor at SONGS Decommissioning Solutions.
The Lands Commission should vote on the final environmental impact report in the fourth quarter of this year. The California Coastal Commission will around that time initiate its process for issuing a coastal development permit for decommissioning.
“Until we receive a coastal development permit we are not allowed to do any major dismantling D&D activities on site,” Marston said during a presentation at the ExchangeMonitor’s Decommissioning Strategy Forum in Nashville. “We’re not allowed to do any ground-disturbing activities “
The permit should be issued by the end of next March, more than two years after SONGS majority owner Southern California Edison awarded the $1 billion decommissioning contract to the AECOM-EnergySolutions venture.
The team has not been idle. It has effectively completed the first of three phases of the decommissioning program – transfer of 21 plant systems to SONGS Decommissioning Solutions, including safety, engineering, and radiation control and protection.
SONGS was permanently closed in 2013 due to faulty steam generators installed in its two remaining operational reactors. Decommissioning is expected to cost $4.4 billion and to wrap up by 2028.
Marston noted that because the plant is on land owned by the U.S. Navy, SONGS Decommissioning Solutions will also have to meet federal regulatory requirements under the National Environmental Policy Act.
Editor’s Note: This article has been updated to clarify that the draft environmental impact report for decommissioning of the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station will come from the California State Lands Commission.
