MOTION BY CITIZENS OVERSIGHT TO ORDER A HALT TO NONESSENTIAL ONGOING WORK AND ORDER MANDATORY WATER REDUCTIONS IN DECOMMISSIONING PLANS

PRESS RELEASE – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

HALT SAN ONOFRE DECOMMISSIONING DURING DROUGHT, SAYS CITIZENS' OVERSIGHT

Water Conservation Plan should be reviewed and approved before any work is done

SAN DIEGO (2015-04-06) – Citizens' Oversight today filed legal documents at the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) that – if approved – will require Southern California Edison to submit a water conservation plan to the commission and get it approved, before any further work to dismantle the plant can continue.

“To initiate any further work to dismantle this plant during this unprecedented drought is unconscionable,” said Ray Lutz, National Coordinator for Citizens' Oversight. “The decommissioning plans submitted to date omit any discussion of water use. We want to change that and put a stop to any work that requires water until our water situation normalizes.”

The motion submitted today by Citizens' Oversight to the San Onofre decommissioning proceeding (A.14-12-007) was prompted by the Governor's Executive Order B-29-15 released on April 1, 2015, to save water, boost enforcement and streamline technological improvements, as well as the state of emergency declared January 17, 2014.

“I think everyone was shocked to see zero snowpack at only five percent of normal in the Sierras this year,” continued Lutz. “Everyone wants to do what we can to save water. There should be no rush to dismantle the plant as worker safety is enhanced if we wait. So why tax our water resources now with this demolition project that will take massive amounts of water?”

The motion submitted by Citizens Oversight included six separate points to proceeding designated as A.14-12-007:

1. That the Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) take judicial notice of the Governor’s Proclamation No. 1-17-2014, Executive Order B-29-15, and the other documents provided in the Exhibits of the motion, mandating that Californians take steps to save water.
   
2. That the ALJ and Commission order the joint utilities (SCE and SDG&E) to provide an amended decommissioning project plan including the estimated water resources required to complete the project, when these resources will be required, from where these resources will come, and what type of water (potable vs. recycled) is required, with the goal of reducing the overall requirement for potable water. Any options in this action plan which include cost tradeoffs should be included in the review of the decommissioning project in this proceeding.
   
   As this portion of the plan is not radiological and is not governed by the NRC, this portion of the plan should be submitted to the CPUC for approval as part of the instant proceeding.
   
3. That the ALJ and Commission impose a moratorium on any decommissioning work at the site which requires water, including demolition of structures, grading, and construction of any new concrete structures in the Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation (ISFSI), except for any work that is required to stabilize the plant and bring it to “Cold and Dark” status, and to maintain the spent fuel pool. This moratorium should persist while drought conditions continue. The moratorium may be lifted when water supplies return to normal levels (i.e. snowpack at or above average levels and reservoirs back to at least average levels.) Lifting of the moratorium should require an explicit action of the Commission.
   
4. That the ALJ and Commission order SCE to cease irrigation of any ornamental landscaping on the site, as these plants are likely to be removed in the decommissioning project anyway. Landscaping associated with the ISFSI may continue with recycled water.
   
5. That the water budget and plan should become a part of this and future SONGS decommissioning proceedings and future Nuclear Decommissioning Triennial Cost Proceedings (NDCTPs). The CPUC is not only concerned with cost, but also with water resources in these projects.
   
6. That all water used on the site for decommissioning must be recycled, unless a valid reason exists to do otherwise and such is approved in advance. Adequate records shall be kept to substantiate that fact. SCE and its contractors must be subject to fines if they are caught using municipal water when recycled water is to be used. (Citizens' Oversight was contacted by residents in San Diego who witnessed potable water being used in the Sunrise Powerlink project when recycled water was supposed to be used for construction of the footings of the transmission line towers. We hope to thwart a similar violation of trust in the SONGS Decommissioning project).

The full text of the motion, including all exhibits, can be found at this web page: http://www.copswiki.org/Common/M1567

CONTACT: Ray Lutz
raylutz@citizensoversight.org
Citizens' Oversight Projects (COPs)
619-820-5321

April 6, 2015

###

• A14-12-007-COPS-007-Motion-On-Water_NewsRelease.pdf: News Release on COPS motion on water

• A14-12-007-COPS-007-Motion-On-Water-with-Exhibits.pdf: MOTION BY CITIZENS OVERSIGHT TO ORDER A HALT TO NONESSENTIAL ONGOING WORK AND ORDER MANDATORY WATER REDUCTIONS IN DECOMMISSIONING PLANS

Comments