October 21, 2011

San Onofre - Great California Shakeout drill illustrates that plant would fare well in massive San Andreas fault quake

The major earthquake simulated during Thursday's Great California ShakeOut - a 7.8 magnitude quake on the San Andreas fault - would likely have produced ground motion at the San Onofre plant site of approximately 0.13g* - less than one fifth of the level of motion the plant's safety-related equipment is designed to withstand. The equipment used to maintain the plant in a safe condition would not be damaged by such an event. ('g' equals the force of gravity)

Source: Scott Andreson (San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station press release), " San Onofre Nuke Plant Ready for a Quake, Officials Say", October 20, 2011, via SanClemente.patch

* discuss this story with other nuclear.com readers

March 16, 2008

Fresno Nuclear Energy Group envisions building n-plant in California, with spent fuel reprocessed in France

Former labor union leader John Hutson is head of the fledgling Fresno Nuclear Energy Group that wants to build a 1,600-megawatt power reactor on 80 acres of city land, using ef fluent from a wastewater treatment plant for cooling. "This is not Wall Street businessmen," Hutson said. "These are farmers. They are salt-of-the- earth guys who know how to get things done." Hutson said his idea is to avoid the state moratorium by not producing any waste. Used fuel would be shipped to France for reprocessing

[Source: David Whitney, "Nuclear industry wants a reboot | Even in California, where new plants are barred for now, plans are afoot", The Tribune (San Luis Obispo, California), March 16, 2008, p. 1]

February 27, 2008

This is from the front page of today's The Orange County Register, of California.

See full text of the local p. 1 story via the web version of this article.

February 17, 2007

* Bureaucratic stink over co-gen plant may finally end
Dennis Wyatt, Manteca Bulletin (California)

This is front page story in today's paper. The City of Manteca's biggest energy user has been its wastewater treatment plant, accounting for about 40% of the city's $1.1-million electricity bill in 2002, for example. That was the year that the city decided to purchase a co-generation plant for use at the facility, running off of the methane which had previously been burned off. The flame from the burn-off has been visible from East Yosimite Avenue, and is known locally as the 'eternal flame'. The facility has been ready to generate power since 2003. But the plan became entangled in what the article calls "bureaucratic Bermuda Triangle". "Ironically, it was stalled by the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District. It is the same agency that has targeted methane gas as a leading culprit of valley air pollution and has been pursuing what some claim are draconian measures to reduce it at the primary source -- dairy operations... For awhile, there was a question even if the district would certify the co-gen plant. But the agency has."

June 19, 2006

California contact info update

Gary Butner, Acting Chief
Radiologic Health Branch
MS 7610
PO Box 997414
Sacramento, CA 95899-7414

March 27, 2006

* California - pharmacy used wrong shielding - 1 R/hr package

January 10, 2006

NRC is captive agency, according to California activists

Activists consider the commission a "captive agency" easily pushed around by those it regulates. "NRC wants to do whatever the industry wants," said one environmentalist... Environmentalists say they fear a potential effort by California lawmakers to order a study on the feasibility of re-licensing nuclear power plants may lead to attempts to build new nuclear energy facilities in the state... Diablo Canyon's generators are up for renewal in 2021 and 2025. San Onofre facilities will get their assessment in 2022, according to NRC... New nuclear facilities have been banned in the state since hearings following a 1976 California Energy Commission (CEC) study that decried the ability of the state to dispose of or recycle spent nuclear waste.

[Source: EnergyWashington Week, "Activists Fear California Nuclear Plant Re-Licensing Study Proposal", January 11, 2006]

November 16, 2005

* Humboldt Bay ISFSI - NRC's environmental assessment

December 14, 2004

* Plan to clean up wells to be unveiled today
Paul Rogers and Hongdao Nguyen, San Jose Mercury News
Perchlorate contamination from plant that manufactured highway flares (Morgan Hill CA).

August 16, 2004

* California - receivers discarded package after removing first I-125 container; another (2.5 mCi) apparently now in landfill [San Juan Capistrano]

* California - moisture density gauge bounced out of truck, found and moved by someone, reported by yet another [Carlsbad CA]

March 22, 2004

* California - 17 mCi Sr-90 eye applicator source missing again (Loma Linda Med Ctr)

March 3, 2004

* California - level gauge missing (100 mCi) from Del Monte plant (Terminal Island)

January 17, 2004

California - Zoning officials delay action on condor cuisanart permits

The East Alameda County Board of Zoning Adjustments voted Thursday to delay action on 15 permits for wind turbines at the Altamont Pass until Jan. 29. The delay is intended to allow county planning staff to review a lawsuit filed Monday by the Center for Biological Diversity. The lawsuit contends that wind turbines in the Pass are killing thousands of protected birds. The county wants to understand the implications of approving permits when the permit holders face pending litigation, said Darryl Gray, assistant county planning director.

[Source: Los Angeles Times, "Alameda County Delays OK of Wind Turbines", January 17, 2004, p. B8]

December 25, 2003

The fault involved in Monday's San Simeon earthquake is the same type which prompted precautionary decommissioning of GE's test reactor at Vallecitos

The Verona fault is a "thrust fault" in California. Although the Geological Survey's scientists can't estimate how large a quake it might produce if it ever ruptures, the unpredictable possibility of a strong temblor on that fault caused the government to order General Electric to dismantle its old nuclear reactor near Pleasanton in 1977. The fault runs almost directly beneath the GE site, where nuclear fuel research is still conducted. In thrust faults, one block of the Earth's crust moves up or down relative to the fault's other side. This is very different than what happens with faults like the world-famed San Andreas, where the two sides of the fault move past each other side by side -- a motion scientists call "strike-slip."

[Ref: David Perlman (Chronicle Science Editor), "Bay Area home to thrust faults; Some are hidden from scientists' view", San Francisco Chronicle, December 25, 2003, p. A-8]

Diablo Canyon felt Monday's quake, but it wasn't strong enough to trigger shutdown

After Monday's San Simeon earthquake, Diablo Canyon conducted the procedurally-required follow-up inspections -- tasks which took several workers several hours to complete. Senator Barbara Boxer has asked the NRC to conduct an additional emergency inspection at the plant. Boxer said she has been advised that a quake could damage the underlying foundation of the plant's reactors. "I request you inspect the foundation as well as the cooling tubes and other piping in the facility," she said. "It's important to rule out any damage and therefore any increased risk that may have been caused by the earthquake," she said.

[Ref: Carol Roberts (Knight Ridder Newspapers), "Boxer seeks thorough inspection of nuclear plant", Contra Costa Times, December 25, 2003]

* Diablo Canyon - NRC's reply to Sen. Boxer's post-earthquake request

December 19, 2003

* Calif - Fed Ex can't find 2.1 Ci Xe-133 source which supposedly left Oakland Friday; shipment was from GE Vallecitos, bound for University of Alabama

December 5, 2003

* Calif - 5 of 8 tritium exit signs missing from building being constructed in Santa Clara

November 28, 2003

* Spent fuel highway transport route (Browns Ferry to GE-Vallecitos) approved

August 13, 2003

TRUE STORY. Three times, Elliot Becker of Escondido, Calif., leapt at the chance to choose a new electric company. Like many Californians, he hoped he could benefit from lower--or at least stable--rates when the state allowed electric companies to compete in 2000. The first company dropped Becker because of a computer error that was never fully explained. The second backed out of doing business in California before his service began. Undeterred, Becker in January 2001 chose Green Mountain Energy--which announced early this year that it, too, would exit the residential power business in the Golden State. Not only has Becker been forced back to his old utility, San Diego Gas & Electric, but he is being hit with the same surcharges that all California residents now pay because of the costs the state incurred to clean up the mess caused by energy deregulation. "There is no more choice," Becker laments, "and consumers in California are now left with the worst of all possible worlds."

[Source: Marianne Lavelle, "Some Therapy For Electric Bill Shock", U.S. News & World Report, August 18, 2003]

July 14, 2003

* Calif - reward offer prompts recovery of stolen gauge

June 11, 2003

* California regulators let Rocketdyne filter the water samples before counting for radionuclides

June 9, 2003

Diablo Canyon license transfer update

* Diablo Canyon - State & local govt want Commissioners to delay NRC staff's approval of license transfer

May 20, 2003

State and local governments among parties opposing Diablo Canyon ISFSI license

An NRC Atomic Safety and Licensing Board had an all-day hearing yesterday on the question of whether PG&E is financially solvent enough to warrant licensing of an Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation at Diablo Canyon. State and local government organizations are amongst those opposed to the proposed dry cask storage facility. Lawyers for San Luis Obispo County, Avila Valley Advisory Council, state Energy Commission, state Public Utilities Commission, six environmental groups and County Supervisor Peg Pinard argued against granting the license. One of their arguments was that the utility failed to make a $10 million payment into the nuclear plant's decommissioning trust fund due to its bankruptcy. The utility assured the Board that there's no problem with funding operations, and that the missed decommissioning fund payment will be made. [Source: David Sneed (The Tribune), Lawyers object to PG&E license; Utility wants to build spent-fuel storage facility, San Luis Obispo Tribune, May. 20, 2003]

May 14, 2003

PG&E and state differ on paths out of bankruptcy

PG&E wants to pay its utility creditors by breaking the unit into two companies and ending state regulation of Diablo Canyon and its hydroelectric plants. California regulators want to keep the utility intact and pay creditors with money collected from ratepayers and with an issue of preferred stock. A bankruptcy judge has placed a gag order on the parties regarding the negotiations. [Source: Rick Jurgens (Contra Costa Times), PG&E unit faces bankruptcy, Contra Costa Times, May 14, 2003]