NRC Allows Start-Up of Damaged Reactor at San Onofre

Federal regulators gave the green light Monday for operators of the San Onofre nuclear power plant to fire up the Unit 1 reactor, despite damage to bolts holding an important thermal shield.

The decision by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission came amid complaints from a San Diego-area congressman that the reactor is “an accident waiting to happen.”

Officials with Southern California Edison Co., the utility that operates the plant just down the coast from San Clemente, said the problem with the bolts does not threaten safe operation of the plant. The bolts are to be fixed in about a year.

The thermal shield, a 2 1/2-inch-thick cylinder, surrounds the reactor core and protects the pressure vessel from radiation that, over time, makes the vessel more brittle. The shield rests on six supporting blocks and is tied to the reactor floor by 30 bolts. Three bolts have come partly unscrewed, and others appear to be in a degraded condition.

Critics worry that problems with the bolts could cause the shield to come loose, fall to the reactor floor and block the flow of coolant. But Edison officials contend that such a scenario is highly unlikely.

Gene Morgan, station manager at the plant, likened the damage to the bolts to the loss of a single screw from a door hinge that continues to work properly for years.

“It’s satisfactorily sound,” Morgan said. “There’s more than sufficient support for the thermal shield . . . And we’re not planning to operate in this condition for what would be considered an extended period of time.”

Despite such assurances, Rep. Jim Bates (D-San Diego) continued Monday to blast the NRC and Edison for the decision to start up the plant.

“It’s an accident waiting to happen,” Bates said. “They may be lucky and it might get through, but I think it’s irresponsible, unconscionable. It’s playing hard, fast and loose with the public safety.”

Bates said he would urge “the interested parties,” such as lawmakers with the cities of San Diego and Oceanside who have expressed concern over the situation at Unit 1, to seek a court order blocking start-up of the reactor.

He argued that plant operators are eager to fire up Unit 1 because further delays would only cost more money, weakening the utility’s efforts to assume control of San Diego Gas & Electric Co. Bates also maintained that putting off the repairs will save about $15 million for the takeover effort.

“It’s a production-driven system based on money,” Bates said. “But I think they should err on the side of the public, not on the side of money.”

Officials at San Onofre refused to comment on Bates’ remarks.

San Onofre officials said they expect the plant, which has been out of service for refueling since the beginning of the year, to begin producing electricity again Thursday or Friday. Each day the reactor is out of service it costs the utility $85,000.

Aside from a feeling that the repairs are not a pressing need, Morgan said operators wanted to delay the job to allow sufficient time for design work and to invite bids, thus reducing its cost.

If the repairs had been started after the problem was first discovered in January by a remote-operated camera inserted into the reactor vessel, it probably would have taken 6 months to finish the work, Morgan said.

With adequate time now to determine the best procedure for accomplishing the job, the repairs should take only about 3 months when the work is begun, probably in mid-1990, he said.