10 years ago or so SCE looked at Songs manning and determined that a double unit non-fleet plant should have about 1000 to 1100 workers. SONGS had about 1400 at that time, but the empire building went on, and the current report is 2100 workers now.
IMHO SONGS problems haven't been upper management, but the mid-level GFs opposed change, promotion of under-managers who held those same values, a bloated engineering department which plays CYA and a major league case of refusal to accept personal responsibility for bad results.
Unfortunately, I must concur with this assessment.
And the other info is in line with what I'm hearing from my contacts there now:
U3 is likely done for good - unless SCE can convince the CPUC to authorize yet another set of new S/G's (unlikely).
At best, U2 is a permanently de-rated plant going forward. But if SONGS falls out of the Rate Base, all bets are off.
Edison Mission Energy (EME) is underwater due to all of the bad coal-fired plant investments and headed either for bankruptcy court or the auction block very soon.
SCE still hasn't won approval for their latest rate increase request - made pre-shutdown.
All of this is finally starting to drag on the EIX bottom line and share price.
In CA, there is an automatic Rate Base Removal review triggered at 9 months for a non-performing asset. SONGS will hit that on November 1. However all of the usual kook suspects, as well as an increasing corus of mainstream advocates are demanding SONGS be dropped from the rate base now given that SCE has admitted neither Unit will be online before 11/1.
Also, practically every City Council within a 30 mile radius of the plant has gone on record and petitioned the CPUC and NRC asking that SONGS be mothballed, as well as most of the local newspapers, and a significant number of CA politicians.
This is all terrible news for what once was a celebrity plant in the US.