Give Now
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
Available On Air Stations
  • Full Schedule
Watch Live

Environment

Nuclear Regulatory Commission Urged To Review Procedures

By Alison St John / Reporter
Published April 1, 2015 at 4:03 AM PDT
This story was published more than 9 years ago.
The San Onofre nuclear power plant is shown from Interstate 5, Feb. 2, 2015.
Alison St John
The San Onofre nuclear power plant is shown from Interstate 5, Feb. 2, 2015.

Nuclear Regulatory Commission Urged To Review Procedures
An environmental group is calling on the head of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to review why faulty steam generators were installed at the San Onofre nuclear power plant.

An environmental group is calling on the head of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to reverse a staff decision and review the installation of faulty steam generators at the San Onofre nuclear power plant.

Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff took almost three years to respond to a petition filed by Friends of the Earth. The petition was filed in 2012 when the problems at San Onofre surfaced. It asked for an examination of regulatory procedures leading up to the installation of faulty steam generators at the nuclear plant.

Advertisement
Become a KPBS sponsor

Damon Moglen of Friends of the Earth said the plant’s operator, Southern California Edison, should have applied for a license amendment. Instead the company told the NRC the new steam generators were not significantly different from the old ones.

U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer, who is on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee that overseas nuclear power, has also asked for more review of NRC procedures.

This week NRC staff issued a draft decision saying that because the plant is now closed a more thorough review is not necessary.

Moglen said the new chair of the NRC, Stephen Burns, should reconsider that decision.

“I think that this is going to be one of his first challenges,” Moglen said. “He has an opportunity to pick this document up and all of the comments made by Senator Barbara Boxer and other parties involved, and decide for himself whether he thinks the staff of the commission have done their job.”

Advertisement
Become a KPBS sponsor

NRC spokesman David McIntyre said the commissioners may decide to review the staff’s final decision once it’s made, but not in response to requests.

“Staff will now review comments received from the petitioner and the licensee and work on a final director’s decision. The commission may, on its own initiative, review the director’s decision within 25 days of the date of the decision, although it will not entertain a request for review of the director’s decision," he said.

Meanwhile staff at the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee said Sen. Boxer is expected to follow up on the issue at an NRC oversight hearing in two weeks.

Tags

Environment Energy
Alison St John
Alison St John currently serves as a general assignment reporter and occasionally co-hosts KPBS Midday Edition. She fell in love with KPBS Radio when she arrived in San Diego in 1985 and first heard NPR. She has been a voice on KPBS Radio since 1989, and has served as a news reporter for radio, TV and the web, as well as anchoring, hosting, producing and editing. Alison has reported on stories about North County and was based in the KPBS' North County Bureau. Alison covered the metro beat during the critical period of the San Diego City pension crisis, and the education beat while Alan Bersin was the controversial Superintendent of San Diego City School District. She covered health when the industry was converting to managed care and told welfare reform stories in the late 1990s when Clinton was “ending welfare as we know it.” She has covered land use issues extensively, looking at the challenges of meeting a growing population while preserving community character, and developing a better transportation system to meet environmental concerns. She has done many stories on the military in San Diego, and the series she edited on the challenges veterans face returning from active duty to civilian life won “Best of Show” from the San Diego Society of Professional Journalists. She occasionally hosts the KPBS Roundtable and KPBS Midday Edition. Alison has won awards from the San Diego Press Club, the Society of Professional Journalists, the Associated Press TV and Radio Association, and the California Golden Mike Awards. Alison was born in Tanzania, brought up in Scotland, and earned her degree in psychology and sociology from Durham University in England. Her postgraduate diploma is in student counseling. She worked in England, Nigeria, Switzerland, Belgium, India, and Japan before moving to the United States in 1981. She now lives in Oceanside and enjoys how her community is growing and changing.
More News