San Onofre Nuclear Plant Restarts Fuel Transfer

SAN CLEMENTE, CA — It has been 11 months since a spent fuel canister became wedged in a precarious position, inciting a rigorous internal and third-party review of the fuel transfer process. Now, the officials at Southern California Edison's San Onofre Nuclear Generation plant have determined that the spent fuel removal process can begin again.

"Last August, a canister became wedged as it was moved from wet to dry storage," officials reported. Though workers relocated the canister to safety, the warning bells rang out.

A whistleblower, David Fritch, brought the wedged canister to the public's attention, saying it became stuck "and would have fallen 18 feet during the transfer," Patch reported last year. He resigned from his position one month later citing "personal reasons."

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has inspected SCE's corrective actions, as well as enhancements made to the entire program, a spokesperson wrote of the process.

One of the most significant issues Fritch questioned was the "incidental contact" the canisters make during downloading.

After intensive review, the commission determined that wear marks and minor scratches were found to not interfere with the safety of those canisters, SCE reported.

As a result, the commission determined that SCE can safely resume downloading spent fuel.

That restart will begin with a canister that was previously loaded and stored in a fuel handling building since August of last year. Forty-four more will need to be moved to the dry storage facility.

This process has been called the most "important step in decommissioning the SONGS facility," a spokesperson said.

"We've done a lot of work to ensure that going forward we will be successful in safely loading and storing each and every spent fuel canister," said Doug Bauder, SCE vice president, and chief nuclear officer. "We're confident the improvements we've made are effective and sustainable. Our job now is to demonstrate that to our stakeholders.

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