U.S. to Test Nuclear Plant Safety, Y2K Compliance
When federal regulators begin an exhaustive three-day inspection Wednesday at San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station, their task will be to determine whether one of the nation’s most powerful nuclear plants is safe.
But the all-out, all-systems testing, done every six years, takes on greater significance amid concerns about Y2K and whether Southern California’s only nuclear generating plant is up to the challenge.
“We’ve never failed,” said Ray Golden, a spokesman for the plant 70 miles south of Los Angeles, which opened in 1968 and generates electricity for 2.5 million households from Santa Barbara to San Diego--about 20% of the region’s power.
Last month’s disaster at a uranium processing plant in Japan, where an uncontrolled nuclear reaction hospitalized three workers with serious radiation poisoning and contaminated 46 others, has raised public concerns about safety, especially if all-important computer systems should malfunction.
San Onofre officials say 45 employees have dedicated 18 months and about $10 million to meticulously testing every piece of digital equipment and replacing or repairing about 300 components.
“We’ve been working on it for four years,” Golden said. “It’s all completed, and we have gone to the greatest of our ability to demonstrate that we are Y2K compliant.”
Government regulators say they endorse the plant’s efforts, both to guard against a disaster and to respond quickly and effectively if the unthinkable should happen.
“They’ve done just fine,” said Tom Ridgeway, branch chief for the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The agency will have representatives among the 25 government regulators and inspectors observing this week’s test. “I’m not sure that they’ve ever had a deficiency.”
Not everyone is as confident, however, and some say the current safety measures underscore the need to find energy alternatives.
“The industry may be safe,” said Lisa Alvarez, an English instructor at Irvine Valley College and long-time anti-nuclear activist, “but nuclear plants are dependent on humans, and humans still make mistakes. Nuclear energy contaminates the environment and our gene pool like no other source; its effects can be devastating. Ultimately, I think, it’s just too risky.”
There have been occasional scares, most recently Sept. 29 when a local cable TV network erroneously reported a nuclear emergency during a routine test at the plant. The mistake generated more than 200 calls to law enforcement and other agencies before the error was discovered and a correction run.
San Onofre’s only official alert was in March, when a plant employee taking a break found a copper pipe near one of the reactors. Fearing that it could be a bomb, he told a supervisor, who notified the plant manager. Within minutes, emergency operating centers were on alert and a team of Marine explosives experts was on the way from Camp Pendleton. The pipe had simply been discarded.
Ellis Merschoff, regional administrator for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, said San Onofre’s safety record and plans for emergency preparedness are a “well-thought-out, thorough and well-exercised program.” His agency, which has responsibility west of the Mississippi, dedicates 5,000 hours a year to inspecting San Onofre through three full-time, on-site representatives and several outside experts.
This week’s inspection, which will include a full disaster simulation, will involve five of the plant’s 60 licensed nuclear operators working in a computerized control room about two miles off site. After observing their response, Merschoff said, the federal evaluators will grade them pass or fail, giving the plant an opportunity to correct any deficiencies before taking further action.
“We do these drills to find weaknesses and fix them,” he said. “Every time we inspect, we find some areas that could be better. It’s not perfect, but it’s effective.”
Government regulators and San Onofre officials point out that no one has died or been seriously injured as the result of a commercial nuclear accident in the United States. Since 1979, when the nation’s worst nuclear accident happened at Three Mile Island near Harrisburg, Pa., the industry has undergone a major overhaul of its safety and disaster practices. Nuclear officials say new technology incorporating redundant safety systems has made accidents next to impossible. The same is true at California’s only other nuclear facility, the Diablo Canyon Nuclear Plant in San Luis Obispo.
If, despite all precautions, San Onofre should have an uncontrolled nuclear reaction like the one in Japan, a well-rehearsed emergency plan is in place.
Plant managers say there are four levels of emergency: an unusual event, an alert, a site area emergency and a general emergency. All will be simulated this week.
A general emergency would be declared if the worst should happen: a release of radiation into the atmosphere. If the contamination were too weak to pose a major health hazard or moving so fast that it would overtake people on evacuation routes, residents would be advised to “shelter in place.”
Because 175,000 people live within 10 miles of the plant, experts say, an evacuation could take as long as 7 1/2 hours. Instead, residents might be instructed to stay in their homes, close doors and windows and turn off air conditioners.
In a general evacuation, Golden said, people would be directed to one of the reception centers for medical evaluation and, if necessary, transferred to a shelter run by the Red Cross.
But the “possibility of a significant accident,” Golden said, “is a million to one.”
