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| Surfer walks the beach near the San Onofre nuclear power plant |
Are Southern Californians about to witness the
restart of an unsafe nuclear power plant? Southern California Edison, the utility that owns the San
Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS) north of San Diego, which leaked radiation more than a year ago before
being shuttered, is evidently looking to sidestep safety evaluations of the plant's
damaged steam generators and reboot as soon as June, with minimal public input.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has
preliminarily approved a "No Significant Hazard" request by Edison that
allows the plant to reopen before any public hearings are held. Operators admit
they don't yet know how to fix the problem at the damaged plant. Their
solution? Start and stop at 70 percent power, and see what happens.
A growing number of residents, activists and pols
think this is far too risky. The Los Angeles City Council voted unanimously today
to urge federal regulators not to allow the restart before a formal public
process determines whether Edison’s experimental restart is safe and all
needed repairs or replacements are subsequently completed.
Los Angeles is the latest in a growing list of
So-Cal cities that have expressed serious concerns about the
safety of restarting either of San Onofre’s twin reactors. Cities that
have passed resolutions or sent letters of concern to the NRC include Del Mar,
Encinitas, Irvine, Laguna Beach, Mission Viejo, San Clemente, Santa Monica,
Solana Beach, Vista, Berkley and Fairfax. In addition, the San Diego Unified
School District board passed a similar resolution.
Damon Moglen, director of the climate and energy
campaign at Friends
of the Earth, asked The Reno Dispatch, "How
can the NRC seriously consider allowing the restart of this reactor without
public hearings, when Edison still doesn't know exactly what went wrong, still
hasn't fixed it and has no idea if their experiment of running at partial power
will work? It would be the height of arrogance (for the NRC) to ignore not only the inherent risks, but the request for public hearings from Los Angeles and other cities throughout Southern California."
Acting on a petition from Friends of the Earth, the
NRC is conducting two official proceedings which could require Edison to seek a
full license amendment with adjudicated public hearings, expert testimony and
rules of evidence.
Meantime, Kendra Ulrich, nuclear campaigner for Friends of
the Earth, says San Onofre’s steam generators are so damaged that they
should never have been granted a license in the first place.
"Edison is saying
that even though these two reactors are total lemons that failed after two
years, and even though they don't know how to solve the problem, they now want to conduct an
experiment running at reduced power because they are so afraid at running at
full power," says Ulrich.
While Edison wants to restart
the reactor as in time for the Summer heat, the NRC still has final say on if or when the plant
reboots. Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA), chairman of the Senate
Committee on Environment and Public Works (EPW) which oversees the NRC, said in a statement earlier this month that NRC's
proposed determination to grant the "No Significant Hazards"
consideration is "dangerous and premature," and could pave
the way for a restart "before the investigations of the
crippled plant are completed."
Boxer said, "It makes
absolutely no sense to even consider taking any steps to reopen San Onofre
until these investigations look at every aspect of reopening the plant given
the failure of the tubes that carry radioactive water. In addition, the damaged
plant is located in an area at risk of earthquake and tsunami."
