San Clemente to Check Into Safety of San Onofre Plant

Saying he was worried about the nearby San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station, San Clemente Mayor Brian J. Rice announced Wednesday night that the city will ask the Federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission for information on how nuclear waste is removed from the plant.

Rice said the city also will ask the NRC for information about a possible phase-out of the oldest nuclear reactor at the plant, which is operated by Southern California Edison Co..

Rice said he also wants to know if the NRC has given permission for some “low-level radiation” to be disposed of in waters used to cool the plant. San Onofre, which is four miles south of San Clemente on the shoreline of northern San Diego County, uses ocean water to cool its three nuclear reactors.

The proposal produced a protest from Councilman Scott Diehl, who said, “I’m very nervous about this becoming a witch hunt and causing a lot of hysteria.”

Rice responded: “I’m not on a witch hunt; I’m worried about safety. I swim in . . . ocean water that is only four miles from the San Onofre plant.”

The mayor disclosed his worries about nuclear safety at a regular council meeting, where council members also discussed a recent report analyzing the plant’s impact on the marine environment. Rice previously had said he was not convinced by the report’s overall assurance that San Onofre poses no major threat to marine life in the area.

No vote was taken, but no council member objected to Rice’s directive for the city staff to contact the NRC.

The report being questioned by the City Council was released last week. It was a study by three biologists appointed by the California Coastal Commission. The study cost $45 million and took 15 years.

Dave Barron, a Southern California Edison spokesman who attended the council session, said the report discussed Wednesday night specifically stated that there was no abnormal radiation produced by the San Onofre plant. But he added that the company would cooperate with the city’s inquiry.

According to the biologists’ report, the nuclear plant has done some damage to the ocean area but does not pose a major environmental threat.

The report said 21 tons of fish are killed annually at the nuclear plant because they are drawn into pipes that take up ocean water to cool three nuclear reactors in the plant. The plant also destroys some kelp.

San Onofre opened its first generator in 1968 and now has three nuclear reactors designed to produce about 2,625 megawatts of electricity. Operated by Southern California Edison Co., the plant is capable of producing 21% of the utility’s total electrical output for the 50,000-square-mile service area from Kern County to San Diego County.

Earlier this week, when Rice announced his intention to challenge the report and question the safety of San Onofre, he said: “We’ve been constantly reassured that these things are safe. But I think the record of nuclear generating stations is less than reassuring about their being a safe method of providing energy.”

Southern California Edison officials, however, said San Onofre has been a remarkably safe facility. Byron Mechalas, the utility’s manager for environmental research, said the study found no danger whatsoever from radiation.

“We have used very sensitive radiation tests around the plant, and we’ve found almost zero radiation caused by the plant,” Mechalas said.