NRC to Conduct Special Inspection at San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station

No: IV-18-013

August 24, 2018

Contact: Victor Dricks, 817-200-1128

NRC to Conduct Special Inspection at San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission will conduct a Special Inspection at the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station to review events surrounding an Aug. 3, 2018, fuel-loading incident. The San Clemente, Calif., plant, is owned by Southern California Edison and permanently shut down in 2013.

NRC is sending a team to evaluate an incident in which a loaded fuel storage canister became stuck while being lowered into an underground storage vault. The charter authorizing the Special Inspection is available on the NRC website. Edison officials have told NRC they have stopped moving fuel into the storage vaults until NRC completes its review of the incident.

The NRC team is scheduled to begin the inspection on Sept. 10, and will spend about a week on site evaluating the licensee’s cause analysis and the adequacy of corrective actions. An inspection report documenting the team’s findings will be publicly available within 45 days of the end of the inspection.