San Onofre nuclear plant closing
Southern California Edison’s parent company announcedtoday it is shutting down the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station in northernSan Diego County near the Orange County line, the latest chapter of a saga thatbegan with a small leak of radioactive steam.
Ted Craver, chairman and CEO of Edison International, SCE’s corporateparent, cited uncertainty about when the two units at the plant, which weretaken offline because of technical issues, would be allowed to restart.
“… We have concluded that the continuing uncertainty about when or ifSONGS might return to service was not good for our customers, our investors,or the need to plan for our region’s long-term electricity needs,” he said ina statement released from the company’s headquarters in Rosemead.
The company also said the administrative process to gain regulatoryapproval to restart could have lasted more than a year, entailing a cost toogreat to bear.
“…It is uneconomic for SCE and its customers to bear the long-termrepair costs for returning SONGS to full power operation without restart ofUnit 2,” according to Edison.
SCE estimates that it will record a charge in the second quarter of thecurrent fiscal year of between $450 million and $650 million before taxes, orabout $300 million to $425 million after taxes. The utility estimated inFebruary that the closure had already cost it $400 million.
The plant’s two reactor units, referred to as Unit 2 and Unit 3, havebeen offline since early 2012. Unit 1 was in operation from 1968 to 1992, whenit was shut down over fears it could not withstand a major earthquake.
Unit 2 was taken out of service Jan. 9, 2012, for planned routinemaintenance, while Unit 3 was shut down abruptly on Jan. 31, 2012, after asmall leak of radioactive steam occurred. No one was hurt, but both reactorswere kept offline while the issue was investigated.
Edison executives would later reveal the leak was caused by prematurewearing of steam pressure tubes in the reactors. Each reactor has nearly 20,000tubes and hundreds of those were found to have been worn down prematurely byrubbing against each other due to vibrations and a settling of supportequipment.
The tubes carry hot, pressurized radioactive water from the reactors.The tubes then heat non-radioactive water surrounding them, producing steamused to turn turbines to create electricity.
The tubes also provide a critical safety function, forming a barrierbetween the radioactive and non-radioactive sides of the plant.
Edison has spent months trying to gain permission from the NuclearRegulatory Commission to restart one unit at 70 percent power for five monthsas a test run.
However, the plan has been strongly opposed by the anti-nuclear groupFriends of the Earth and Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., who accused Edison ofskirting federal regulations designed to prevent such mishaps.
And former NRC head Gregory Jaczko said in San Diego this week that therestart plan instilled no confidence because it effectively suggested thatEdison lacked the confidence to run the plant at full power.
Opponents, including the environmental group Friends of the Earth,contend Edison executives were not forthright in how they characterizedreplacement steam generators installed in the reactor units in 2009 and 2010.
They recently released a series of communications they believe demonstrate thatEdison executives knew the generators were of a radically different design thantheir predecessors.
“We have long said that these reactors are too dangerous to operate andnow Edison has agreed,” Friends of the Earth President Erich Pica said thismorning. “The people of California now have the opportunity to move away fromthe failed promise of dirty and dangerous nuclear power and replace it with thesafe and clean energy provided by the sun and the wind.”
Edison said today it would pursue damages from Mitsubishi HeavyIndustries of Japan, the company that supplied the replacement steam generatorsthat wore out sooner than expected.
In connection with the retirement of Units 2 and 3, about 1,100 workersat San Onofre will lose their jobs over the next year.
“This situation is very unfortunate,” said Pete Dietrich, SCE’s chiefnuclear officer, who called the affected workers “an extraordinary team of menand women. We will treat them fairly.”
Prior to being shuttered early last year, San Onofre was able to keepthe lights on in 1.4 million Southern California homes. Edison is the majorityowner but San Diego Gas & Electric and the city of Riverside each have a smallstake.
SDG&E has said the plant’s shuttering has not affected its ability toserve residents in San Diego County, largely because of the Sunrise Powerlinkthat came online last summer. The major transmission line is capable ofcarrying 800 megawatts of electricity — nearby double SDG&E’s share of energyfrom San Onofre — from the Imperial County desert into San Diego and southernOrange County.
SCE executives said they would continue to work with the CaliforniaIndependent System Operator, the California Energy Commission and theCalifornia Public Utilities Commission in planning for its customers’ energyneeds.
“The company is already well into a summer reliability program and hascompleted numerous transmission upgrades in addition to those completed lastyear,” said SCE President Ron Litzinger.
“Thanks to consumer conservation, energy efficiency programs and amoderate summer, the region was able to get through last summer withoutelectricity shortages,” he said. “We hope for the same positive result againthis year, although generation outages, soaring temperatures or wildfiresimpacting transmission lines would test the system.”
Gov. Jerry Brown released a statement that said, “Since San Onofrenuclear power plant went offline last year, energy utilities and the state haveworked to provide Southern California with reliable electric power year round.At my direction, California’s top energy experts will continue developing along-term plan that ensures there is reliability for decades to come. As wemove into the hot summer months, we can all do our part by continuing toconserve.”
