Los Angeles City Leaders Oppose San Onofre Restart

The Los Angeles City Council today voted to oppose the restarting of the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station, which was taken off-line in January 2012 after a leak was discovered in one of the reactors.

In a resolution approved today on a 11-0 vote, the City Council urged the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission to refrain from making a decision on whether to start up the reactors before public hearings have been held.

The city is asking that the commission "take the time needed to independently determine whether or not the information, analysis and actions provided by Southern California Edison constitute a solid technical basis" for restarting the plant and ensuring the public's safety will be protected.

Earlier this month, officials of Southern California Edison, which owns the majority of the power plant, asked the commission for permission to start up one of the reactors at 70 percent power starting June 1.

The utility wants to then power down the nuclear plant after five months to allow for inspections of the facility's steam pressure tubes while a long- term repair strategy is developed.

After the inspection, the reactor would resume operating at 70 percent power. The company said it would use the collected tube data to determine an appropriate power setting for the long term.

According to Edison, vibrations that led to premature wearing of steam pressure tubes in the reactors don't occur at 70 percent power.

Los Angeles joins several other cities including Del Mar, Encinitas, Irvine, Laguna Beach, Mission Viejo, San Clemente, Santa Monica, Solana Beach, Vista, Berkeley and Fairfax in opposing the restarting of the plant. The San Diego Unified School District has also come out against the plan.

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S. David Freeman, a senior adviser of the environmental group Friends of the Earth, also asked the commission today to delay making a decision.

"There is a growing consensus from cities in the Southland that Edison's restart plan amounts to a dangerous experiment that gambles with the safety of millions of Southern Californians," said Freeman, who previously ran the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power.

"There are serious questions about what went wrong at San Onofre, whether it can be fixed, and whether it is safe to operate that can only be answered adequately in a formal legal proceeding."

The plant has been shut down since January 2012, when a small, non- injury leak occurred in one of the reactors. Another unit was undergoing maintenance and not operating at the time.

An investigation found that vibration caused premature wear in steam generator tubes.

The commission has promised to hold a public meeting in Southern California before any final decisions are made on a restart plan. The agency and SCE have repeatedly said they won't restart the plant until they are sure it is safe.

TELL US WHAT YOU THINK IN THE COMMENTS. Should federal regulators approve plans to restart San Onofre?

- City News Service