SAN ONOFRE - U-1 REACTOR VESSEL - NO ROUTE TO BARNWELL

Pratap Chatterjee (investigative reporter based in Berkeley, California), "Bechtel's Nuclear Nightmares", CorpWatch, May 1, 2003

San Onofre, California, has a 950-ton radioactive problem: a nuclear reactor built by Bechtel that nobody wants. The unit was shut down over a decade ago in 1992 by its owners, Southern California Edison, who preferred not to spend $125 million in required safety upgrades.

The only place that will accept the reactor is a dump in South Carolina but railway officials refused to transport the cargo across the country. The next suggestion was to ship it via the Panama Canal but the canal operators said no. So did the government of Chile when the power plant owners asked for permission to take it around the Cape of Good Hope.

The only option left is to ship it all the way around the world, although even that is looking unlikely as harbor officials in Charleston, South Carolina, are already suggesting that they may deny the reactor entry. Edison officials are currently desperately looking for a port that might accept the toxic cargo before the dump shuts its doors in 2008.

nuclear.com note: When Maine Yankee needed a port to offload their vessel from barge to Barnwell, the federal government gave permission to dock at Savannah River site. See nuclear.com info nugget from May 23.

nuclear.com note: Mr. Chatterjee hosts the Terra Verde show on Friday afternoons on KPFA radio - Berkeley. Hear it live on the station's streaming MP3 broadcast over the net.