Is Edison Out of Compliance with its License Requirements?
Channel: eon3
Date: 2019-08-12

SoCal Edison is out of compliance with its San Onofre nuclear fuel waste storage licenses. Doug Bauder, San Onofre Chief Nuclear Officer, admitted in this video that Southern California Edison cannot unload thin-wall nuclear fuel waste canisters back into the spent fuel pools. He said it's been done with a bolted lid thick-wall cask, but does not believe it's ever been done with a thin-wall welded canister.  Bauder said it's unproven technology and there is "no pathway for success" to unload spent nuclear fuel canister back into the pool. [There are over 3000 spent nuclear fuel canisters and casks loaded around the country as of April 2019. Most of these are thin-wall welded canisters]. 

Scott Morris, NRC Region IV administrator, admits to Donna Gilmore, SanOnofreSafety.org, that it is a license requirement [Condition 8 of their Holtec license] to unload fuel back into the pool. Morris admitted this would make Edison out of compliance with their storage licenses. This video clip is from the June San Onofre Community Engagement Panel (CEP) meeting, The conversation between Scott Morris and Donna Gilmore, SanOnofreSafety.org, was recorded immediately after the meeting. 

The Holtec dry storage system license requires that a canister that drops over 11" must be opened and inspected inside for damage.  Holtec almost dropped a San Onofre canister 18 feet -- twice. In spite of all this, the NRC is allowing more Holtec canisters to be loaded with spent nuclear fuel. 

Bauder stated that unloading canisters is not a requirement of San Onofre's NRC licenses. This is not true. The NRC gives exemptions to this safety requirement only after all fuel is in dry storage. This NRC license exemption leaves the fuel stranded with no method on-site to handle cracking or leaking canisters or retrieve the spent nuclear fuel.  Bauder's suggested solution to use an overpack to store a cracked canister.  He doesn't mention the NRC has no overpacks approved for this purpose.  Thin-wall canisters require convection cooling.  Storing a hot thin-wall canister in an overpack eliminates the required cooling system, causing the canister to overheat.  

The only other option to handle spent nuclear fuel is in a "hot cell" facility. This is a dry fuel handling facility where fuel is handled remotely in a room filled with an inert gas. The only hot cell available in the US large enough for this purpose (Idaho National Lab Test Area North (TAN) hot cell facility was destroyed in 2007.  

Bauder stated no decommissioning facility keeps their pools. Donna Gilmore said
Crystal River is keeping their pool.  Bauder responded that Crystal River will be destroying their pool in decommissioning.  However, Florida Public Utility records show Duke Energy is keeping the empty spent fuel pool so they can retrieve the fuel and repackage it as needed.  The Nuclear Waste Policy Act requires monitored retrievable fuel storage. Thin-wall canisters do not meet that requirement. Therefore, the DOE cannot legally accept ownership of these uninspectable unmaintainable thin-wall canisters.  Only thick-wall casks can meet the NWPA safety requirements for storage and transport. 

More information at SanOnofreSafety.org

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FuUuulQa0Rg&feature=youtu.be