The San Onofre Community Engagement Panel will meet Sept. 15 to discuss the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station decommissioning.
The regular quarterly meeting is set from 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at the QLN Conference Center, 1938 Avenida Del Oro, Oceanside, according to Thursday’s announcement. The 18-member panel consists of government officials, scientists, and environmental group representatives.
Key discussion topics, according to the announcement, include storage and long-term management of spent nuclear fuel that will remain at San Onofre until the federal government develops a required storage facility.
INTERNATIONAL
China’s fast-growing nuclear power sector requires additional improvements to an increasingly effective regulatory structure, the International Atomic Energy Agency said Thursday at the end of a 10-day review in the nation.
The team from the U.N. nuclear agency’s Integrated Regulatory Review Service (IRRS) determined that China has enacted the majority of recommendations issued during a 2010 mission. Nonetheless, “further work is needed in areas such as managing long-term operation of nuclear power plants and waste management,” according to an IAEA press release.
Among the recommended improvements, the Chinese Ministry of Environmental Protection’s National Nuclear Safety Administration (MEP/NNSA) should boost the requirements that operators ensure that nuclear plants beyond atomic energy and fuel cycle facilities have sufficient financial backing for decommissioning. National planning for radioactive waste management should also be conducted to reflect the expanding nuclear power sector, the IAEA team concluded.
There are 32 operational nuclear power reactors in China, a sharp spike from just 10 in 2010. Another 24 reactors are being built, more than in any other country, and China aims to have roughly 90 plants active or being built just four years from now, the IAEA press release says. The nation also hosts 19 research reactors, close to 100 nuclear fuel recycling plants, and 120,000 radiation sources in use.
“China’s plan for unparalleled expansion of the use of nuclear power poses a challenge for the regulatory body, which will have to invest effort and resources to ensure that it has the capacity to effectively regulate nuclear and radiation safety,” IRRS team leader Ramzi Jammal, with the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission, said in the release. “We found that significant progress has been made in developing the regulatory framework in the six years since the last review. Due to the dynamic character of China’s nuclear power programme, we recommend that the next full-scope review takes place within a 10-year period of the initial mission.”
The IRRS team submitted recommendations on nuclear regulatory improvement to the MEP/NNSA and Chinese government, with a final report expected in about three months.
