Public Safety

San Onofre Operators Welcome NRC Review

By Ed Joyce / Reporter

Published March 24, 2011 at 2:00 AM PDT

This story was published more than 13 years ago.

San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station is a nuclear power plant located on the Pacific coast of California. The 84-acre site is in the northwestern corner of San Diego County, and surrounded by the San Onofre State Park and next to the I-5 Highway.

Review Of All 104 U.S. Nuclear Power Plants Ordered

San Onofre Operators Welcome NRC Review

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has launched a two-step review of all U.S. nuclear power plants in the wake of the nuclear crisis in Japan.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission voted to set up a task force, made up of senior staff and former NRC experts.

The group will conduct short-term and long-term analyses of lessons learned from Japan.

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"Since this tragic earthquake and tsunami hit Japan, senior Southern California Edison (SCE) executives, including the leadership of our San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station, have been in daily contact with U.S. regulatory officials already beginning the process of assessing what happened and how it might relate to the safe operations of U.S. plants," said SCE spokesman Gil Alexander.

The nuclear regulatory commission says the short-term review is to be completed within three months.

The longer review should be completed by the end of the year.

The NRC review will address how lessons can be applied from Japan to the reactors at 104 U.S. nuclear power sites and whether policy changes are needed.

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Ed Joyce was the environment reporter and afternoon news anchor for KPBS-FM. Before joining KPBS, he worked as an editor/columnist with Copley News Service in San Diego. Ed has an extensive background in newspaper, radio, web and TV journalism. After graduating with a B.A. in Communications from the University of Washington in Seattle, Ed began a career in broadcast journalism. His work has included stints in public broadcasting, commercial broadcasting and education -- working as an affiliate professor of communication and reporter at the University of Idaho and Washington State University in Pullman, Wash. During the past 20 years he has worked in radio, TV and print as a news reporter, anchor, writer, editor and producer. Along the way he has won numerous awards for general news reporting, newswriting, feature and issue reporting and breaking news reporting from The Associated Press, The Society of Professional Journalists, San Diego Press Club and other organizations. During the mid-1990s, while working for Oregon Public Broadcasting, he was a frequent contributor to National Public Radio, including a feature report on the memorial service for 14 U.S. Forest Service "hotshots" who died fighting a wildfire in Colorado (the crew was based in a central Oregon town). He’s also filed reports with Marketplace, KQED’s California Report and Climate Watch and with national and regional networks throughout the United States. At KPBS, Ed continues his contributions to National Public Radio and other national and regional news organizations. He has won awards from the Society of Professional Journalists and San Diego Press Club for his environmental reporting at KPBS-FM-TV and for producing and anchoring radio newscasts. In 2007 he was selected a National Press Foundation fellow for Understanding Violent Weather II program. The seminars were held at the National Weather Center in Norman, Okla. In 2008 he spoke at a UC San Diego conference on U.S. National Security as part of the school’s Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation. Ed led a discussion with the 18 foreign government officials and academics about the political debate over climate change. In 2010, Ed was elected to a three-year term on the board of the San Diego Press Club.

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