By John Stang
An activist organization is legally challenging the movement of spent fuel at the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS) in California as too dangerous to the public.
The Aug. 29 lawsuit from Public Watchdogs in U.S. District Court for Southern California seeks to nullify SONGS’ current decommissioning plan; to have the site’s decommissioning trust fund analyzed to ensure it has a sufficient balance; to have the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission review the efficacy of the canisters that hold the plant’s spent fuel in dry storage; and to appoint an unidentified independent monitor for the site’s decommissioning efforts.
On Aug. 30, the San Diego-based organization requested a temporary restraining order to halt the current movement of used nuclear fuel at SONGS. The court has not yet ruled on that request, which plant majority owner Southern California Edison (SCE) on Thursday said it opposed.
The defendants in both filings are Southern California Edison and San Diego Gas & Electric, the prime owners of the retired power plant; San Diego Gas & Electric’s corporate parent, Sempra Energy; Holtec International, which is managing the transfer of spent fuel from wet to dry storage; and the NRC.
“The SONGS’ defendants mismanagement of the decommissioning process — and the NRC’s failure to enforce federal regulations passed specifically to protect public safety …. have caused SONGS to become exactly what the community was afraid of: a continuing liability and an ever-present existential threat,” according to Public Watchdogs’ complaint.
There have long been local concerns about keeping radioactive used fuel on-site next to the Pacific Ocean. Those worries were exacerbated by an August 2018 mishap in which one canister was left at risk of an 18-foot drop while being placed into storage, along with scratches on some of the vessels. Southern California Edison paid a $116,000 NRC fine for 2018 incident. But it says the potential drop, much less the scratches, would not have undermined the viability of the canisters to the point of radiation release.
“Placing spent nuclear fuel into approved canisters that meet all technical, safety and regulatory requirements for on-site storage is the first step to relocating the fuel to an off-site, federally licensed facility,” Southern California Edison said Friday in a statement to RadWaste Monitor. “The local communities near San Onofre have made it abundantly clear that storing the fuel safely on site and then moving the fuel to such a facility as soon as possible is their strong desire and in their best interest. SCE shares these objectives and is working diligently towards achieving them.”
SONGS’ three reactors went online in 1968, 1983, and 1984. Reactor Unit 1 shut down in 1992, and its fuel is already in dry storage. Reactors 2 and 3 permanently closed in 2013 after being equipped with faulty steam generators. Decommissioning the two reactors is expected to cost $3.4 billion, according to SCE parent Edison International’s annual report for 2018. That is down from an earlier projection of $4.4 billion. Decommissioning trust funds for the reactors held $2.6 billion as of the end of 2018, the Edison report says.
The dry storage site is 18 feet above sea level 108 feet from the Pacific Ocean and near an earthquake fault line, according to the complaint. Ultimately, 73 canisters of used fuel from the reactors closed this decade will be added to the expanded storage pad that already holds the waste from Unit 1. Thirty-two of those canisters have been moved to date, after a nearly yearlong pause to improve the process following the 2018 mishap. The fuel offload is due to conclude late next spring.
Public Watchdogs organization want to keep the used fuel in wet storage, which it believes is safer than dry storage. “The storage technique used at SONGS for decades – wet storage pools, encased in hardened structures specifically designed for such purpose – are time-tested and do not involve the movement of dangerous waste.”
An EnergySolutions-AECOM joint venture could begin major decommissioning operations at SONGS this year, pending final regulatory approval as early as next week from the California Coastal Commission.
