24-Year-Old Nuclear Reactor at San Onofre Gets Full License

The nation’s third-oldest nuclear power reactor received a full operating license from the federal government Friday--one day after a state agency urged that the reactor be shut down.

The San Onofre power plant’s Unit 1 reactor has operated for 24 years on a temporary license while safety improvements were made. The full-term operating license was issued by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, said Greg Cook, an NRC spokesman.

The license will be delivered Monday morning to Southern California Edison Co., the plant’s principal owner, Cook said.

San Onofre Unit 1 was the last reactor in the nation operating on a temporary license.

Closure of the Unit 1 reactor was urged in a report issued Thursday by the state Division of Ratepayer Advocates, a branch of California’s Public Utility Commission. The division said the reactor is too expensive to run and should be closed so electricity can be obtained from cheaper sources.

The recommendation was the division’s response to Edison’s request to charge ratepayers $125 million to make more NRC-required safety improvements at Unit 1. The division has the job of representing the interests of ratepayers in hearings before the PUC.

The five-member PUC will open hearings on the issue in mid-October, with a decision expected by the end of the year.

“We don’t think Edison’s proposal is cost-effective, so we’re recommending it not be allowed to spend the money,” said Bob Kinosian, project manager at the PUC division. “Edison has asserted that this would force it to close the reactor. In essence, that’s our recommendation.”

Edison officials argue that Unit 1 is cheaper than other power sources--a contention rejected by Kinosian’s division--and can safely run until at least 2007. The PUC can’t order the reactor closed, but essentially would do so by refusing to let Edison charge ratepayers for safety improvements.

Unit 1 is the oldest operating reactor in California and the third-oldest in the nation. The only older ones still running are Big Rock Point in Michigan and Yankee Rowe in Maine, said Scott Peters of the U.S. Council for Energy Awareness, a nuclear industry lobbying group.

Issuance of a full license for Unit 1 was delayed during the 1970s because the NRC was busy issuing construction permits and operating licenses for reactors that weren’t yet operating. Concerns raised by the 1979 Three Mile Island nuclear plant accident in Pennsylvania, as well as earthquake hazards, led to further delays as the NRC required safety modifications at San Onofre Unit 1.

The NRC decided this summer it didn’t need to withhold a full license to make sure remaining safety work was completed. That’s because the agency issued a special order in January, 1990, telling Edison it must make additional modifications.

Unit 1 was built during 1964-67 for $89 million. It started running in 1967 and began commercial power production in 1968. Since then, Edison has spent $360 million on safety improvements.

The $125 now sought by Edison amounts to about one-fourth of an overall 2% rate increase the utility wants to impose in January. For customers with a $70 electric bill, the increase would be about $1.40, including 35 cents for Unit 1.

Unit 1 produces about one-third as much electricity as each of its newer neighbors, the Unit 2 and 3 reactors, which together cost $4.5 billion. The three San Onofre reactors supply 16% of the electricity used in Southern California.