Swan SONGS as Edison opts to permanently close San Onofre
Image by J. DeStafano, 2012Southern California Edison has decided to permanently shutter its Units 2 and 3 San Onofre Nuclear Generating Stations (SONGS) reactors in Southern Cal! Congratulations to all who fought so hard for this great victory! Read the Edison press release.
"This is very good news for the people of Southern California," said [a] statement from Friends of the Earth president Erich Pica. "We have long said that these reactors are too dangerous to operate and now Edison has agreed. The people of California now have the opportunity to move away from the failed promise of dirty and dangerous nuclear power and replace it with the safe and clean energy provided by the sun and wind."
Steam generator tube ruptures, as occurred at San Onofre Unit 3 on Jan. 31, 2012, are very safety significant. Enough tube ruptures all at once (a "cascading" failure) can lead to a Loss of Coolant Accident in the core, reactor meltdown, and a catastrophic radioactivity release. In fact, a steam generator tube rupture at Indian Point near New York City in Feb. 2000 was considered one of the worst "breakdown phase" accidents at a U.S. reactor, only to be eclipsed two years later by the Hole-in-the-Head reactor lid corrosion hole at Davis-Besse near Toledo.
Despite the clearly known safety significance of steam generator tube ruptures, New York Times reporter Matt Wald asked repeatedly what the safety significance of steam generator tube ruptures are to Friends of the Earth on a telephone press conference about the San Onofre closures. Wald's question was all the more ironic, given the near-miss at Indian Point 13 years ago, so close to New York City and the New York Times HQ office.
June 8, 2013