Posted Oct. 16, 2012, Salute to FOE!
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The Nuclear Regulatory
Commission’s continued refusal to consider a legally binding hearing on the
future of the San Onofre nuclear plant has prompted Friends of the Earth to
accuse the agency of failing to protect the public and of failing to follow its
own rules and procedures.
More than three months have passed since Friends of the
Earth petitioned the NRC for a legally binding hearing on the
future of the crippled plant. In that time, the NRC has failed to even schedule
a discussion of the petition. Now that Southern California Edison has submitted
a plan to restart one of San Onofre’s reactors, Friends of the Earth is reiterating
its request that the NRC begin a license amendment process to determine if San
Onofre is safe to operate and is asking for an emergency stay to keep the plant
closed in the meantime.
In a letter to the
NRC , Friends of the Earth said: “Time is being wasted.” The
organization argued that that the Commission is not only ignoring the law but
precedent in a strikingly similar case.
In 2002, the Palo Verde nuclear plant in
Arizona – partly owned by Edison – replaced two steam generators of similar
design to those used at San Onofre. Under NRC rules, when utilities replace
major equipment with a revised design that affects the unit’s safe operation,
the licensee must obtain a license amendment. Palo Verde’s operators did so.
In contrast, when Edison replaced the steam generators at
San Onofre, the utility claimed it was “like for like” – so similar to the
units it was replacing that no license amendment was required. But Edison
in fact made major design changes to the new steam generators that caused the
equipment to degrade and fail after less than two years of operation.
These errors in design and the steam generators’ failure are now critical to
the question as to whether it’s safe to operate either of the San Onofre
reactors.
“It cannot be lawful for utilities to pick and choose the
process they undergo,” Friends of the Earth wrote to the NRC. Friends of the
Earth “seeks only that this Commission enforce its own rules in an even-handed
manner. . . . We submit that, consistent with its decision on the Palo
Verde plant, its own regulations, and the Atomic Energy Act, the Commission,
not the staff, must decide the point and must grant the petition filed by
Friends of the Earth and convene a licensing proceeding to amend formally the
license for San Onofre
”
To read the letter to the NRC: http://libcloud.s3.amazonaws.com/93/23/6/2497/12-10-16_Letter_to_the_NRC.pdf
Categories: Climate And
Energy, News Releases, San Onofre News
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