ML12174A389

G20120270/LTR-12-0162/EDATS: SECY-2012-0198 - Response to Bill Neil Regarding San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station, Units 2 and 3

ML12174A389
Person / Time
Site:	San Onofre
Issue date:	06/27/2012
From:	Markley M Plant Licensing Branch IV
To:	Neill W - No Known Affiliation
Hall J
Shared Package
ML12174A370	List: ML12174A389
References
G20120270, LTR-12-0162, EDATS: SECY-2012-0198, TAC ME8497, TAC ME8498
Download: ML12174A389 (3)

Text

June 27, 2012 Mr. William Neill P.O. Box 33666 San Diego, CA 92163

Dear Mr. Neill:

On behalf of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), I am responding to your letter dated April 7, 2012, to Chairman Gregory B. Jaczko regarding the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS), Units 2 and 3. In your letter, you expressed concern about the ability of SONGS to withstand an earthquake or tsunami, in view of the disasters suffered by Japan.

Specifically, you urged the NRC to establish a committee to explore how best to proceed with a set of protection plan standards that will govern plant locations. Since the Fukushima Dai-ichi event in March of 2011, the NRC staff has continued to evaluate and act on lessons learned from the accident to ensure that appropriate safety enhancements are implemented for U.S. reactors. The NRC established a senior level task force to conduct a methodical and systematic review of NRC processes and regulations to determine whether the agency should make additional improvements to our regulatory system. The task force submitted its report and recommendations to the Commission in July 2011. In that report, the task force concluded that a sequence of events like the Fukushima accident is unlikely to occur in the United States and that continued operation and continued licensing activities do not pose an imminent risk to public health and safety. However, the NRC is continuing its longer term review of information regarding the disaster at the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant to identify its applicability to U.S. reactors, identify lessons learned, and determine if any changes to its regulatory requirements are necessary to continue to ensure the health and safety of the public and protection of the environment. In October 2011, the NRC staff provided its proposed plan of action and prioritization of the task force recommendations, which included additional recommendations beyond those identified in the task force report. That plan is publicly available in the NRCs Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS), at Accession No. ML11272A111, and on the NRC Web site at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/commission/secys/2011/2011-0137scy.pdf.

As part of the NRC staffs comprehensive actions in response to the nuclear accident at the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant, on March 12, 2012, the NRC issued three orders requiring nuclear power plants to implement safety enhancements related to (1) mitigating strategies to respond to extreme natural events resulting in the loss of electric power at plants, (2) ensuring reliable hardened containment vents (applicable only to boiling-water reactors with Mark 1 or Mark 2 containments), and (3) enhancing spent fuel pool instrumentation. All operating nuclear power plants are required to begin implementation of the safety enhancements and to complete implementation within two refueling outages, or by December 31, 2016, whichever comes first.

In addition, the NRC issued a formal request for information, requesting all operating reactor licensees (1) reevaluate seismic and flooding hazards (including tsunami hazards) at their sites using applicable current methods and information, (2) conduct walkdowns of their facilities to

W. Neill ensure protection against the hazards in their current design basis, and (3) reevaluate their emergency communications systems and staffing levels. The NRC will evaluate the responses to the request for information in determining the need for plant modifications or further enhancements to address seismic and flooding hazards at SONGS.

You can find additional information on NRC actions in response to the events in Japan on the NRCs public Web site at http://www.nrc.gov/reactors/operating/ops-experience/japan-info.html.

In your letter, you also proposed that SONGS, Units 2 and 3, be dismantled and a new power generating plant be built 2 miles to the east of the site, using all salvageable power equipment.

The NRC has the regulatory authority and the responsibility to ensure that SONGS is operated in a manner that adequately protects the public health and safety and the environment.

However, the NRCs jurisdiction does not extend to directing a utility to build a new power plant, as you suggest. Such a request should be submitted to Southern California Edison Company.

Thank you for conveying your concerns about these matters.

Sincerely,

/RA/

Michael T. Markley, Chief Plant Licensing Branch IV Division of Operating Reactor Licensing Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation Docket Nos. 50-361 and 50-362

Pkg ML12174A370 Incoming ML12114A020 Response ML12174A389 OFFICE NRR/LPL4/PM NRR/LPL4/LA NRR/LPL4/BC NRR/LPL4/PM NAME JRHall JBurkhardt MMarkley JRHall DATE 6/26/2012 6/25/12 6/27/12 6/27/12