With Showdown Looming, Edison Releases San Onofre Licensing Document

Southern California Edison released a draft of its proposed operating license amendment for the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station ahead of a Wednesday Nuclear Regulatory Commission hearing to discuss the license and plans to partially restart the plant by summer.

Edison volunteered for the amendment in response to pressure from environmental groups, one of which filed a legal complaint with the NRC demanding court-like license amendment hearings with sworn testimony about the plant's operation.

The San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station sprang a radioactive steam leak in January 2012. Subsequent inspections revealed that , even though the steam generators, which contained them, were only about two years old.

Now, Edison wants to restart its Unit 2 reactor at 70 percent power -- which has much less damage than Unit 3 and was offline for routine maintenance when the leak happened. Edison said operating Unit 2 -- the reactor where the leak did not occur -- at a lower power level would allow it to supply electricity to the region
during the summer months without causing any potential damage to the tubes.

 ``Since last fall, SCE has provided the public and the NRC with detailed analyses from global experts that support safe restart of Unit 2,'' said Ron
Litzinger, SCE president. ``We are considering the proposed voluntary amendment as the best path to get Unit 2 safely up and running before the hottest months of the year hit our region.''

The utility has furnished the Nuclear Regulatory Commission with extensive reports by a team of nuclear engineers from more than a half-dozen organizations and corporations. According to Edison officials, the reports prove Unit 2 is safe to operate.

Friends of the Earth, which filed the complaint demanding an adjudicated hearing on San Onofre's license, issued a release indicating it still wasn't satisfied with Edison's efforts. Most groups and individual activists who have been fighting against the restart of San Onofre have called for the outright decommissioning and dismantling of the entire plant.

The Friends of the Earth states the proposed voluntary amendment doesn't go far enough.

"[The draft amendment] makes it clear that [Edison] considers its experimental scheme to restart reactor Unit 2 and run it at 70 percent power only a minor administrative issue that can be handled with a footnote to its current operating license," the release states. "If the NRC grants the request Edison could restart the reactor and hold sham hearings after the fact."

The Maryland NRC hearing on the proposed license amendment will be streamed live on the NRC website Wednesday starting at 10 a.m. Pacific Time.

Also today, leaders of 23 environmental organizations sent a letter to Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Ca., and Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Los Angeles, urging them to continue their regulatory oversight by requesting a comprehensive license amendment process for San Onofre by the NRC.

San Diego Gas & Electric owns 20 percent of the plant and receives one- fifth of the generated electricity.