Nuclear panel to discuss power plant's performance

Apr 26 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - Paul Sisson North County Times, Escondido, Calif.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission will continue to conduct extra safety inspections at San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station because the plant has failed to make improvements in areas previously cited by the federal agency, officials said in a recent assessment letter to plant owner Southern California Edison.

The letter is part of the agency's 2010 performance review for San Onofre that will be presented to the public during a meeting at 6 p.m. Thursday at the Capistrano Unified School District Board Room in San Juan Capistrano, 33122 Valle Road.

Released last month, the letter says the NRC is generally pleased with safety operations at the seaside power plant, but that regulators still have concerns with how workers and managers at the plant perform their duties.

Some of those lingering concerns include a lack of adequate design documentation and work instructions; improper error-prevention techniques; and the Edison's efforts to make sure projects are properly overseen by management. Those same issues have been raised during the plant's last seven consecutive review sessions, the letter states.

The NRC will continue to do extra inspections at the plant on worker performance matters this year because "corrective actions to date have not resulted in sustained and measurable improvement."

In previous public meetings with its federal overseers, Edison executives have highlighted a laundry list of new initiatives to make sure that workers are following procedures to make sure that small problems do not grow.

Meanwhile, the anti-nuclear activism group San Clemente Green seems to be losing patience.

Gary Headrick, the group's president, said Monday that he and others intend to protest at Thursday's meeting. Headrick said many feel that the NRC has not done enough to punish the utility for poor performance.

"We think there should be fines or sanctions. Something that has consequences besides just the promise of more inspections," Headrick said.

He added that protesters also object to San Onofre's very existence. The recent 9.0 magnitude earthquake that damaged the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in Japan on March 11 has only underlined their objections.

"We think it should be shut down right away before the earthquake everyone expects to happen here actually happens," Headrick said.

These sentiments have come up at the annual NRC meetings for years. Federal officials have said in the past that public safety is the No.1 responsibility of the agency. They have said that San Onofre has two resident inspectors with a third set of eyes brought in about two years ago when worker performance issues cropped up.

Call staff writer Paul Sisson at 760-901-4087.