Politics & Government

Will Edison Apply to Extend San Onofre Nuke Plant's License?

Company officials say they haven't decided yet, but some industry watchers think they might and hope to shut down the plant.

The San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station .

The decadelong undertaking required crews to punch holes in the massive concrete domes that enclose the reactors, and then haul in the 640-ton generators with cranes.

, the date its license expires.

Find out what's happening in San Clementewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

This leads some industry watchers to believe Southern California Edison will seek to renew the operating license for San Onofre, although the company hasn’t yet filed any paperwork. 

Edison spokesman Gil Alexander said the company has hired consultants and is using in-house expertise to figure out how much it would cost to keep the plant running past 2022.

Find out what's happening in San Clementewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

“We’re still in the feasibility assessment stage,” Alexander said. If Edison execs decide to apply for a license renewal, that step would be “at least several months away,” he said.

And the application would require approval from two agencies:

  • The California Public Utilities Commission, which has jurisdiction over any spending passed on to ratepayers. Edison would have to persuade the PUC running the plant is fiscally prudent, Alexander said.
  • The Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which holds ultimate license-renewal authority for nuclear plants in the U.S. Edison would have to show it can continue to operate the plant safely beyond 2022.

Edison will also be watching Pacific Gas & Electric’s license-renewal case carefully. PG&E operates the Diablo Canyon nuclear plant, and its application should provide a good gauge of how receptive the PUC would be to Edison.

“We continuously monitor both state and federal regulatory processes for nuclear plants in the U.S.,” Alexander said.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission put Diablo Canyon’s license renewal on hold for 52 months until it completes a seismic study, Becker said. Edison is asking to spend $64 million on a seismic study for San Onofre.

A July 7 hearing on the issue in San Francisco will be covered by Patch. The hearing will determine the scope and schedule of the study, Alexander said. Regulators will not make the final decision at that time.

Opposition to Renewing San Onofre's License

Meanwhile, Rochelle Becker, executive director of the Alliance for Nuclear Responsibility, an anti-nuke group founded in 2005, has been in contact with Gary Headrick, a San Clemente organizer trying to persuade the City Council to officially oppose the continued operation of San Onofre, although the council does not have authority over the plant.

The council has so far refused to discuss a resolution calling for a shutdown, pending a September informational meeting with officials from the plant and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Becker said she spent a lot of her career as an anti-nuclear activist appealing to safety and security concerns about nuclear power, as . But she’s found more success focusing on economic issues, over which California regulators in the PUC have more control.

“I found that doors opened I didn’t know were locked,” Becker said.

The Alliance has involved itself in the PUC’s regulatory processes, filing protests which require the company to respond.

Becker said the Alliance is trying to fight nuke plant license renewals using data from the Japanese nuclear disaster in Fukushima caused by this spring’s earthquake and tsunami. The cost for cleanup and relocating refugees is running well over $100 billion.

The Alliance argues that potential costs of a catastrophe here make it imprudent to extend the life of San Onofre.

The Waste Disposal Question

The Alliance also opposes a Department of Energy edict that allows on-site storage of radioactive waste at nuclear plants for up to 60 years after a plant’s shutdown.

The San Clemente City Council agrees on that point. It has sent letters to lawmakers and various federal agencies urging them to find another place for the waste currently stored at San Onofre. City officials have said they’ve been frustrated by the tangle of bureaucracies responsible for regulating the nuclear industry.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission oversees the operation of nuke plants and regulates the waste stored on-site at those plants. Once the waste leaves the site, it comes under the jurisdiction of the Department of Energy. The PUC is responsible for approving any costs a utility plans to pass on to ratepayers.

At the San Clemente City Council's September meeting, NRC officials and SoCal Edison execs will discuss the lessons learned from the Fukushima disaster and how they apply to operations at San Onofre.


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