San Clemente Seeks NRC Answers on Onofre

Saying he was worried about the safety of the nearby San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station, Mayor Brian Rice on Wednesday night said 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 about the possible phase-out of the oldest nuclear reactor at the plant, which is operated by Southern California Edison Co.

Rice said yet another question he wants answered is about the alleged permission the NRC has given for some “low-level radiation” to be disposed of in the ocean water used to cool the plant. San Onofre, which is 4 miles of south of San Clemente on the coast of north San Diego County, uses the water to cool its three nuclear reactors.

The mayor disclosed his worries about nuclear safety at a regular council meeting, at which members also discussed a recent report on the plant’s effect 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 and shore life.

The report being questioned by the 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.

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 says that 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 there. 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.

The plant is capable of producing 21% of the utility’s total electrical output for the 50,000-square-mile service area from Kern to San Diego counties.

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.”