NRC Rejects Plea to Close Calif. Reactor : Denies New Hearing to Foes of San Onofre Nuclear Power Plant

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission today rejected an appeal to shut down one of three reactors at the San Onofre nuclear plant and voted again to deny its opponents a new hearing on allowing the unit to operate.

On a 4-1 vote, the commission denied a petition by the Sierra Club and the Southern California Alliance for Survival for the shutdown order and a hearing.

The two groups had challenged the commission’s decision last November allowing Unit 1 of the plant near San Clemente to resume operating after a two-year hiatus to upgrade its ability to withstand an earthquake.

The opponents contended that the changes, which were ordered by the commission, constitute a formal license amendment to the plant’s operating permit and therefore require a public hearing under the law.

A majority of the commission, however, agreed with its licensing and safety officials that the changes are not a formal licensing amendment.

Work Not Completed

Even though the work in the $200-million program to reduce the reactor’s susceptibility to a seismic shock has not all been completed, the commission voted Nov. 21 to let the reactor resume operating anyway.

The action was taken after the California Public Utilities Commission told the plant’s owner, Southern California Edison Co., that it would remove the reactor from the utility’s rate base and order the company to refund $35 million to its customers if the unit was not operating again by Jan. 1, 1985.

The reactor had been operated safely for 14 years before the commission shut it down in August, 1982, for the seismic upgrade.

There was no public discussion by the five commissioners before their vote today. Commissioner James K. Asselstine said he will file a written dissent later.

Voting to reject the petition were NRC Chairman Nunzio J. Palladino and Commissioners Frederick M. Bernthal, Lando Zeck and Thomas M. Roberts.