SCE Draft License Amendment for SONGS Unit 2 restart

Press release from Southern California Edison follows:

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MediaContact: Media Relations, (626) 302-2255
Investor Relations Contact: Scott Cunningham, (626) 302-2540

SCE Submits Draft License Amendment for Nuclear Plant Unit 2 Restart
Amendment Submitted to Meet Customer Electricity Demand During Hot Summer Months

ROSEMEAD, Calif., April 1, 2013 — Southern California Edison (SCE) has voluntarily submitted a draft license amendment request to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) for discussion. The draft is designed to support safely restarting Unit 2 of the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station to address customer electricity demand and grid reliability concerns during the upcoming summer months. SCE is considering submitting a final amendment request after discussing it with the NRC staff at a public meeting Wednesday in Rockville, Maryland.

The draft license amendment request, if finalized and submitted for NRC approval, would support SCE’s plan to operate Unit 2 at 70 percent power for five months. Operating at 70 percent power prevents conditions that caused the tube-to-tube wear in Unit 3 that resulted in the nuclear plant being shut down since January 2012. SCE and three independent companies with expertise in nuclear generation have confirmed it is safe to operate the Unit 2 steam generators. The NRC has been evaluating these analyses, which are based on exhaustive testing and inspections, since October 2012.

“Since last fall, SCE has provided the public and the NRC with detailed analyses from global experts that support safe restart of Unit 2,” said Ron Litzinger, SCE president.“We are considering the proposed voluntary amendment as the best path to get Unit 2 safely up and running before the hottest months of the year hit our region.”

SCE would be asking the NRC to act on the amendment before the end of May to facilitate timely restart of Unit 2 to meet peak summer electricity demand. Following the initial five-month operating period, SCE would shut down Unit 2 for steam generator tube inspections. Based on inspection data, Unit 2 would resume operation at 70 percent power for an appropriate operating period during the remainder of the 18-24 month fuel cycle while SCE updates its analysis to determine the appropriate long-term power level.

The San Onofre nuclear plant is the largest source of baseload generation and voltage support in the region and is a critical asset in meeting California’s clean energy needs. According to testimony filed by SCE for its General Rate Case and as part of a report prepared in 2010 by IHS Global Insight, operating the nuclear plant directly generates economic activity worth on average $2.2 billion per year. The impact grows to $3.3 billion per year if secondary economic effects are considered, which include the supply chain purchases of businesses supported by the nuclear plant and spending by those employed by the plant.

Both units at the San Onofre nuclear plant are currently safely shut down. Unit 2 remains shut down since it was taken out of service Jan. 9, 2012, for a planned outage. Unit 3 was safely taken offline Jan. 31, 2012, after station operators detected a leak in a steam generator tube.
More information is available at www.edison.com/SONGSupdateand at www.SONGScommunity.com. San Onofre is jointly owned by SCE (78.21 percent), San Diego Gas & Electric (20 percent) and the city of Riverside (1.79 percent). Follow us on Twitter (www.twitter.com/SCE) and like us on Facebook (www.facebook.com/SCE).

About Southern California Edison
An Edison International (NYSE:EIX) company, Southern California Edison is one of the nation’s largest electric utilities, serving a population of nearly 14 million via 4.9 million customer accounts in a 50,000-square-mile service area within Central, Coastal and Southern California.

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Jennifer Manfrè
Principal Manager, Media Relations
Southern California Edison
626-302-7964

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2:25 PM Eastern 4/1/2013
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SoCal Ed comments - MHI Evaluation of San Onofre Steam Generators

3/8 -- Press Release below courtesy Southern California Edison.  A comment from me follows.

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Southern California Edison Comments on MHI Evaluation of San Onofre Nuclear Plant Steam Generators

Posted March 8, 2013 - 2:00 p.m. PDT

 

 

Media Contact: Media Relations, (626) 302-2255

 

ROSEMEAD, Calif., March 8, 2013 — An evaluation by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) made public today cites ineffective tube supports, dry steam and high steam flow velocity as causes of excessive wear in the steam generators MHI supplied to Southern California Edison's (SCE) San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station.

SCE previously disclosed these same causes based on its own investigation, and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's (NRC) augmented inspection team report last July found that MHI's use of faulty computer modeling in the design process caused MHI engineers to inadequately predict the dryness of the steam, measured by void fraction, in the replacement steam generators.

 

MHI repeatedly reassured SCE of the efficacy of the design. During the design phase of the project, MHI advised SCE that, based on its own review and analysis, the maximum void fraction that MHI expected to occur was acceptable, did not require additional design changes or measures, and that the replacement steam generators would perform as warranted.

 

"SCE's own oversight of MHI's design review complied with industry standards and best practices," said Pete Dietrich, SCE senior vice president and chief nuclear officer. "SCE would never, and did not, install steam generators that it believed would impact public safety or impair reliability."

 

In fact, MHI states in its root cause report (page 41), that its analysis of conditions in the steam generator during the design phase (which calculated void fraction and steam flow velocity) concluded that the thermal hydraulic conditions in the San Onofre steam generators were acceptable, and specifically that there was no need to reduce void fraction¹.

 

Additionally, SCE never rejected a proposed design change to address void fraction based on its impact on compliance with 10 CFR 50.59.

 

"At no time was SCE informed that the maximum void fraction or flow velocities estimated by MHI could contribute to the failure of steam generator tubes," said Dietrich. "At the time, the design was considered sound."

 

SCE is disappointed that MHI decided on its own to redact some information in its evaluation about the flaws in the computer codes. However, the NRC publicly disclosed the computer code flaws three months before MHI completed its evaluation. In addition, the corrective actions and other statements included in the evaluation make it evident that there were problems with the computer modeling that failed to predict conditions that led to the tube-to-tube wear.

 

SCE has proposed operating Unit 2 at 70 percent to decrease velocity and decrease steam dryness to increase damping, thus preventing the conditions that led to excessive wear. The proposed restart plan was validated using a different computer model and has been reviewed by independent experts.

 

The San Onofre nuclear plant is the largest source of baseload generation and voltage support in the region and is a critical asset in meeting California's summer electricity and clean energy needs. Both units at San Onofre are currently safely shut down. Unit 2 remains shut down since it was taken out of service Jan. 9, 2012, for a planned outage. Unit 3 was safely taken offline Jan. 31, 2012, after station operators detected a leak in a steam generator tube.

 

NRC approval is required before SCE can restart Unit 2. The repair, corrective action and restart plan for Unit 2, along with additional technical information to address questions from the NRC, are available to the public at www.SONGScommunity.com

 

More information, including videos that explain how a steam generator works and the role San Onofre plays in providing reliable electricity to the region, is available at www.edison.com/SONGSupdate and at www.SONGScommunity.com. San Onofre is jointly owned by SCE (78.21 percent), San Diego Gas & Electric (20 percent) and the city of Riverside (1.79 percent). Follow us on Twitter (www.twitter.com/SCE) and like us on Facebook (www.facebook.com/SCE).

 

About Southern California EdisonAn Edison International (NYSE:EIX) company, Southern California Edison is one of the nation's largest electric utilities, serving a population of nearly 14 million via 4.9 million customer accounts in a 50,000-square-mile service area within Central, Coastal and Southern California.

¹MHI Root Cause Analysis, page 41: T/H condition "was judged acceptable by FIV analysis" and "T/H analysis (FIT-III) did not indicate the necessity to reduce the high steam quality (void fraction)."

 

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NOTE FOR APR READERS:  I am presently reviewing the reports from MHI and will have further commentary posted on this blog over the weekend.

 

5:20 PM Eastern 3/8/2013

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