04/03/2013 Maryland NRC meeting: Edison request to lower San Onofre safety standards

Southern California Edison wants the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to approve lowering San Onofre safety standards in May 2013 in order to expedite a restart of their defective Unit 2 nuclear reactor.  Currently, San Onofre must be able to run at 100% power for 22 months before it is considered safe to operate.  Edison wants their operating license amended to lower this to 70% percent power during Cycle 17.  

If approved by the NRC, Edison would be able to restart their defective Unit 2 nuclear reactor without the rigors of a thorough license amendment and public adjudicatory hearing on the San Onofre safety issues.  Contact Senator Barbara Boxer and tell her to do everything in her power to stop the NRC from lowering safety standards at San Onofre. 

Friends of the Earth (FOE) held a telephone briefing April 2nd with John Large, a London-based expert on nuclear reactors. He provided an excellent detailed analysis of Edison’s request, explaining why Unit 2 should not be restarted. And Edison knew there were problems with the steam generator design, but had them built anyway. See John Large’s 3/27/2013 report: Review of Tube Wear Identified in the San Onofre Replacement Steam Generators – Mitsubishi Reports UES-20120254 Rev.0 (3/64) and L5-04GA588(0) together with Other Relevant Information, R3218-A2. See also FOE’s 4/1/2013 press release and 4/1/2013 letter to Senator Boxer and Rep. Waxman.

Both Unit 2 and 3 show decades of wear in critical steam generator tubes after less than two years of operation. Edison only discovered this after a radiation leak in Unit 3 (less than one year of operation).  Edison’s nuclear “experts” had promised these replacement steam generators would last decades.  Instead, thousands of defective tubes needed plugging — unprecedented in NRC history (see Plugged Tubes Chart with NRC data and summary of steam generator problems).

NRC SONGS Lead Inspector, Greg Werner, said no technology exists to detect steam generator tube radiation leaks until AFTER they occurs, and there is no way to test an operating steam generator (only computer simulations are done).  

Edison implies San Onofre may be needed before this summer, so wants approval for restart in May 2013.  However, California’s electric grid operator has plans to avoid blackouts this summer just as they did last summer (one of the hottest summers on record).

April 3rd is the pre-application NRC meeting to discuss Edison’s plan to submit a license amendment request (LAR) claiming “no significant hazard” for Unit 2. The proposed LAR would address compliance with the San Onofre Unit 2, Technical Specifications, discussed in the NRC staff’s request for additional information (RAI), question number 32, transmitted to SCE on December 26, 2012.  Edison has not been able to adequately address NRC RAI question 32 regarding the ability to successfully operate Unit 2 at all ranges of power.

…All in-service steam generator tubes shall retain structural integrity over the full range of normal operating conditions (including startup, operation in the power range, hot standby, cool down and all anticipated transients­ included in the design specification) and design basis accidents…

This is a Category 1 Meeting. The public is invited to participate in this meeting and will have one or more opportunities to communicate with the NRC after the business portion, but before the meeting is adjourned. Proprietary information may be discussed at certain times during the meeting. These portions of the meeting will be closed to members of the public who have not been granted access to the information by the owner of the information.  Participants from the NRC include staff members from the Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation (NRR).

Interested members of the public can participate in this meeting via Webcast link or toll-free audio teleconference.

• Webcast link: http://video.nrc.gov. This link to the NRC webcast page will permit the user to select the meeting to be viewed and the viewing speed. The meeting link will become active approximately one hour prior to meeting start.
• Teleconference bridge number: 888-677-3916; passcode 2670631. [approximately 400 caller maximum]. Callers will initially be placed in a “listen only” status. At the designated point in the agenda, two-way calling will be enabled, so that the public may ask questions of the NRC staff regarding the meeting discussions.

Individuals interested in attending the meeting in person are requested to contact one of the meeting contacts listed below in advance of the meeting, as seating may be limited. [Note: requests to have NRC hold all San Onofre public meetings in Southern California have been denied.]

• NRC Official Meeting Notice and Agenda
• Facts Edison doesn’t want you to know: Why San Onofre should not be restarted/Plugged Tubes Chart
• NRC San Onofre Steam Generator Tube Degradation website
• Citizens’ 4/1/2013 letter to Senator Barbara Boxer and Rep. Henry Waxman
• SAN ONOFRE: Edison’s restart request reduces safety to a footnote - Friends of the Earth, 4/1/2013
• Large Associates 3-27-2013 Review of Tube Wear Identified in the San Onofre Replacement Steam Generators – Mitsubishi Reports UES-20120254 Rev.0 (3/64) and L5-04GA588(0) together with Other Relevant Information, R3218-A2
• Edison Draft License Amendment Request