Southern California Edison (SCE) has received the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s (NRC) Confirmatory Action Letter, which outlines actions SCE must complete at the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS) before seeking permission from the NRC to restart Units 2 and 3. SCE is committed to working with the NRC and abiding by its requirements on the restart process of Units 2 and 3.
"We welcome the NRC's letter, which is a formal step in the process of restarting Units 2 and 3," said Ron Litzinger, president of SCE, which operates the plant as the majority owner. "Our number one priority is, and always has been, the health and safety of the public and our employees. The utility will only bring the units on line when we and the NRC are satisfied that it is safe to do so."
SCE recently submitted a letter to the NRC describing a series of actions it is taking regarding steam generator issues at SONGS. Units 2 and 3 are safely shut down for inspections, analysis and testing. An NRC augmented inspection team has been on site at the plant conducting its own inspections and analysis since March 19. Unit 2 was taken out of service for a planned outage on Jan. 9. Unit 3 has been shut down since Jan. 31, when it was safely taken off line after station operators detected a leak in one of the unit’s steam generator tubes. As a result of the leak, SCE recently completed eight days of extensive testing of the steam generator tubes and reported the results to the NRC.
SCE has committed in writing to the NRC that it "will proceed deliberately and conservatively to implement these steps, always bearing in mind that safety is our first priority."
