The California Coastal Commission is expected in September to decide whether to issue a permit that is necessary for major decommissioning to begin on two retired reactors at the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS).
The commission had been scheduled in June to take up Southern California Edison’s application for a coastal development permit, but delayed the matter on the advice of agency staff. The September meeting is scheduled for Sept. 11-13 in Newport Beach.
“We are expecting the Commission will take an action,” agency spokeswoman Noaki Schwartz said by email Tuesday. “The decision to postpone it to the Newport Beach meeting in September was initiated by staff, not the Commission itself. As staff we thought it would be a good idea to invite a representative from the [U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission] to be at the meeting given the kinds of questions we were getting from the public.”
John Lubinski, director of the NRC’s Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards Office, will attend the meeting. “I appreciate the opportunity to respond to any questions related to the August 3, 2018, spent fuel canister misalignment event and associated corrective actions, as well as any questions related to the proposed decommissioning activities,” he wrote in a July 16 letter to Alison Dettmer, deputy director at the state commission.
Lubinski was referring to a mishap in which a canister of spent fuel assemblies was left at risk of an 18-foot uncontrolled drop last August while being placed into its underground slot on SONGS’ dry-storage pad. The NRC in March fined Southern California Edison $116,000 for violations of federal nuclear safety rules. Following an extended recovery period, the agency in May authorized the utility and contractor Holtec International to resume transferring used fuel from the two reactors from wet to dry storage. That work began again last week and is expected to be completed next spring.
At that point, roughly 3.5 million pounds of radioactive spent fuel assemblies will be stored on-site near the Pacific Ocean. The U.S. Department of Energy is legally obligated to dispose of this radioactive waste from U.S. nuclear power reactors, but is more than 21 years past the deadline to start taking used fuel. Southern California Edison, meanwhile, is studying potential means for moving SONGS’ material to another location under a 2017 settlement over on-site storage.
Southern California Edison permanently shut down SONGS reactor Units 2 and 3 in 2013 after faulty steam generators were installed in both systems. The utility, the plant’s majority owner, hired an AECOM-EnergySolutions joint venture to manage the $4.4 billion decommissioning. SONGS Decommissioning Solutions has done some preparatory work for decommissioning, which pending final state approval is due to begin in earnest this year and be completed in 2028.
The coastal development permit is needed for onshore ground-disturbing work in decommissioning, which would include radiological remediation, dismantlement of the reactor vessel and containment structures, and extraction of other large equipment. Southern California Edison will eventually need a separate commission permit for offshore decommissioning activities, with an application anticipated in about two years.
Reactor Unit 1 at SONGS was shuttered in 1992 and has been mostly decommissioned.
The NRC generally might have inspectors on-site two to three weeks each month at an active nuclear cleanup job.
During active decommissioning, the NRC says its inspectors may be at the facility 2 or 3 weeks of the month to monitor radiological controls, procedural compliance, spent fuel management, and safety. However, its oversight at SONGS during the remaining fuel offload will be heightened, including surprise inspections.
“I am confident that the NRC’s inspection plan for the SONGS decommissioning process is the most effective approach to ensure the safe decommissioning of the site,” NRC Chairman Kristine Svinicki wrote in a July 16 letter to Rep. Mike Levin (D-Calif.). “We have extensive experience and a proven record with performing inspections at decommissioning site, and the NRC’s inspectors who perform are experts with extensive experience in this area.”
Svinicki’s letter followed her July 11 meeting with Levin, whose congressional district covers SONGS, on U.S. Navy property in San Diego County. During the meeting, Levin restated his request the commission to place an inspector at the plant on a full-time basis while the fuel transfer continues. Svinicki has said that is not necessary, given the lower hazard posed by nuclear power plants after their reactors have shut down.
“I want to assure you that we will not hesitate to devote the inspection resources necessary to ensure the safe decommissioning of SONGS,” Svinicki wrote.
Edison Earnings
Edison International, SCE’s parent company, on Thursday did not mention SONGS in its quarterly earnings report and teleconference with financial analysts, which again focused on its response to wildfires in California.
Disastrous fires in the state have been connected to utility equipment operated by SCE and its peers, which on Thursday committed to providing $10.5 billion for the California Public Utilities Commission’s wildfire insurance fund. Southern California Edison said it would contribute $2.4 billion to the fund by Sept. 10. Then SCE will provide $95 million to the fund each Jan. 1 for the subsequent 10 years.
Edison International reported net income of $392 million, or $1.20 per share, for the second quarter of 2019. That compares to $276 million in net income, $0.85 per share, in the same quarter in 2018.
Southern California Edison reported second-quarter net income of $419 million, $0.75 per share, according to an Edison press release along with its filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. In the same quarter in 2018, SCE’s net income was $297 million.
“The increase in core earnings in the second quarter 2019 was primarily due to the adoption of the 2018 (General Rates Case) final decision, the timing of regulatory deferrals related to wildfire insurance and mitigation costs,” Edison President and CEO Pedro Pizarro said during the teleconference.. “We remain committed to improving our wildfire risk profile through enhanced operational capabilities, while continuing to make significant investments in grid hardening and resiliency, as well as other capital programs that support California’s energy goals.”
Edison International’s operating revenue for the first six months of 2019 was $5.6 billion, compared to just under $5.4 billon for the same period of 2018.
The company is lowering its earnings guidance for 2019— now looking at a range of $4.61 to $4.81 per share instead a late May prediction of $4.72 to $4.92 per share.
