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Environment

Outgoing NRC Chair Says Agency May Need To Rethink Its Safety Regulations

By Alison St John / Reporter
Published May 23, 2012 at 1:57 PM PDT
This story was published more than 11 years ago.
Evening sets on the San Onofre atomic power plant December 6, 2004 in northern San Diego County, south of San Clemente, California.
David McNew
Evening sets on the San Onofre atomic power plant December 6, 2004 in northern San Diego County, south of San Clemente, California.
Outgoing NRC Chair Says Agency May Need To Rethink Its Safety Regulations
Outgoing NRC Chairman Gregory Jaczko says the agency may have to review its safety regulations. Meanwhile rallies call on power companies to decommission California's two nuclear power plants.

The outgoing chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Gregory Jaczko, said today the agency may have to review its safety regulations, in view of ongoing problems at San Onofre.

San Onofre, which provides about 20 percent of Southern California’s power, has been shut down since January after radiation leaked from its newly-installed steam generators.

Jaczko resigned earlier this week under pressure from other board members, who objected to his style and his stand on safety issues. He will remain until a replacement is appointed. He said today if it turns out the operator, Southern California Edison, complied with NRC requirements when it installed the new generators, then the NRC needs to rethink its regulations.

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Meanwhile anti-nuclear activists are rallying today to build public support for decommissioning both nuclear power plants in California.

Protestors in San Diego, Irvine and Fresno are calling on Sempra Energy, Southern California Edison and Pacific Gas and Electric to cut their investments in nuclear power. All the companies have a stake in either San Onofre in San Clemente or Diablo Canyon, near San Luis Obispo.

In San Clemente, Gene Stone of Residents Organized for a Safe Environment said San Onofre has the worst safety record of any nuclear power station in the country. He said the steam generators are just the latest problem and the plant should shut down for good.

“We think it’s time to decommission San Onofre and move on,” he said, “This plant could not be built today this close to 8 million people. “

In San Diego, activist Ray Lutz called on Sempra, which owns a 20 percent share of San Onofre, to pull out of nuclear power.

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“This is a company that can say, 'I’m not in the game,’” Lutz said, “'take me out - my 20 percent is over.’”

Sempra has been silent on the situation at San Onofre and did not acknowledge a recent letter from the protestors asking the chairman for a public response.

For its part, Southern California Edison said on its website San Onofre will only be returned to service when it is safe to do so.

Jaczko said Edison has not yet submiited plans to solve the problems or restart the plant.

Senator Barbara Boxer asked last week for documentation on Edison’s steam generator replacement and the NRC ’s approval process.

This week, staff of the Energy and Public Works committee, of which Boxer is chair, said they have received hundreds of pages of technical information from Southern California Edison detailing the application for the steam generator replacement. They said Edison will provide briefings sometime this week.

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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.
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