San Onofre (SONGS)

[milo124]

Regardless of the why, its sad to see them shut down.  I worked with some good people there and I still remember sitting out back under a tent, the ocean breeze, listening to the radio and staring out at the ocean as I surveyed items for free release.  Then rudely being brought back to reality by hearing the dreaded GSF (Go See Frank)! Lol.

[retired nuke]

It's because you probably aren't aware of all the history here. Your reaction is analogous to someone watching the "Intervention" TV show and asking "why is everyone being so mean to Uncle Bob the Meth Head? Why not just give him a second chance and start over fresh?" Whereas the family (The Nuclear Industry in this case) has been putting up with Uncle Bob's $hit for years and are fed up, so they are turning their back and cutting him off.

San Onofre has been on the bottom of every Industry and Regulatory Performance Metric scale for over a decade now. They have spent millions of dollars on high visibility, Enterprise Wide, Human Performance Improvement Initiatives and failed miserably. Despite having one of the largest, bloated staffing levels of ANY Nuclear plant they have continued the downward spiral. And they have a consistent track record of botching their high-dollar, complex, major capital replacement projects – the SG's being only the latest example.

No one here is happy with the events that have come to pass. But just as in the analogy above, everyone must at some point finally face the consequences of their actions. Fair or Unfair, history is finally catching up to SONGS.

How do you really feel?

[Paulers]

It is interesting to see what all my Ops coworkers are up to after leaving. Grid Ops, T&D, Engineering, Hydro, Solar, Wind, Ops at different plants, Retirement,  etc..., The place is becoming a real ghost-town. I miss most of you - it was fun.

[SloGlo]

Regardless of the why, its sad to see them shut down.  I worked with some good people there and I still remember sitting out back under a tent, the ocean breeze, listening to the radio and staring out at the ocean as I surveyed items for free release.  Then rudely being brought back to reality by hearing the dreaded GSF (Go See Frank)! Lol.

frank,frank,frank,frank,frank,frank... frank,frank,frank,frank,frank,frank...*

oh, weight!  wrong frank.   

* to bee sung to the tune from the "star spangled banner".

[michael berg]

It is interesting to see what all my Ops coworkers are up to after leaving. Grid Ops, T&D, Engineering, Hydro, Solar, Wind, Ops at different plants, Retirement,  etc..., The place is becoming a real ghost-town. I miss most of you - it was fun.

Paulers, Do you know when the decommissioning is beginning in earnest? I know I am already paying for it... I am retiring from Nuke Navy (22 yrs) in two months. I am curious if the deco is a job opportunity.

Mike

[desertdog]

A schedule I saw said the decommissioning is supposed to start 2016.

[Wlrun3]

Will this be the pattern of all future commercial nuclear power plant decommissionings in the United States.
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/calif-nuclear-plant-to-cost-4-4-billion-to-dismantle/

[GLW]

Will this be the pattern of all future commercial nuclear power plant decommissionings in the United States.
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/calif-nuclear-plant-to-cost-4-4-billion-to-dismantle/

The last several commercial decommissionings have been similar,....

Things just cost more as time goes on,...

Plus, once you commit to DnD those who take the radwaste know the utility has to come to them, and the pricing follows, there is some competition, but not much,...

Plus, many utilities have the short visioned approach to reducing legacy radwaste, i.e., they don't, they pack rat and hoard and when the corporate decision to DnD is made they have to shed that legacy radwaste at DnD pricing and on the DnD budget as opposed to spread over a few to several years in the O&M budget cycles,...

There's more,  Characterization & FSS come to mind, but that starts tapping into my expertise more than can be or should be accomodated on an internet forum,...

[HydroDave63]

Will this be the pattern of all future commercial nuclear power plant decommissionings in the United States.
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/calif-nuclear-plant-to-cost-4-4-billion-to-dismantle/

Shareholders ain't gonna be happy....

http://www.utilitydive.com/news/california-ratepayers-will-pay-33-billion-for-san-onofre-closing/335891/

[HydroDave63]

As predicted. The talk has started:

http://alisoviejo.patch.com/articles/edison-considers-closing-san-onofre-amid-costly-repairs

http://www.scpr.org/news/2013/04/30/37069/costs-for-san-onofre-nuclear-power-plant-shutdown/

http://www.kcet.org/news/rewire/nuclear/san-onofre-nuclear-plant-may-close-for-good.html

Looks like the timing of the articles had a little help!


SCE admits to private conversations with Peevey on SONGS closure
By Gavin Bade | February 10, 2015

    Southern California Edison (SCE) admitted Monday to taking part in private conversations with former California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) Chair Michael Peevey about the closure of the utility's San Onofre Nuclear Generation Station (SONGS).
    Stephen Picket, a former SCE vice president, met with Peevey in a luxury hotel in Warsaw, Poland, in March 2013, the utility said. At the time, the PUC faced multibillion-dollar decisions regarding the closure of the nuclear plant, which SCE owned.
    Communication between utilities and regulators outside the normal PUC process is supposed to be reported to all interested parties within three days. U-T San Diego pointed out that SCE made this disclosure 686 days after the meeting.

http://www.utilitydive.com/news/sce-admits-to-private-conversations-with-peevey-on-songs-closure/362628/?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_term=Utility+Dive&utm_campaign=Issue%3A+2015-02-10+Utility+Dive+Newsletter#.VNqbV6xnE8M.linkedin

[retired nuke]

Plus, many utilities have the short visioned approach to reducing legacy radwaste, i.e., they don't, they pack rat and hoard and when the corporate decision to DnD is made they have to shed that legacy radwaste at DnD pricing and on the DnD budget as opposed to spread over a few to several years in the O&M budget cycles,...

Happily, we (VY) made a concerted effort to get all our legacy crap (except SFP stuff) out before shutdown. 

[Already Gone]

What was the rationale behind doing that?  VY has the unique situation of having to return unspent DnD funds to the VT ratepayers.  How does spending O&M money while saving money that you don't get to keep benefit the company?  Is there a shortage of DnD money that Entergy would have to make up? 

[GLW]

...VY has the unique situation....

I think all DnDs have to return unspent funds and I think FERC regulates the final allotment amongst ratepayers, etc.,...

There is some debate in the current era regarding accountable spending of the DnD funds to protect the leftovers from "skimming", as it were, during DnD,...

There is on-going contentions on that tangent at Zion,...

It does get complicated pretty quickly,...

And besides, this is the SONGS thread, VY is three doors down on the left,...

[HydroDave63]

And besides, this is the SONGS thread, VY is three doors down on the left,...

Nope, 3 doors down and to the left is the IT overseas call center 

http://www.sandiegoreader.com/news/2015/feb/07/ticker-edison-screws-its-employees-too/

[retired nuke]

What was the rationale behind doing that?  VY has the unique situation of having to return unspent DnD funds to the VT ratepayers.  How does spending O&M money while saving money that you don't get to keep benefit the company?  Is there a shortage of DnD money that Entergy would have to make up?  

Sigh...
Decommissioning funds are not sufficient at shutdown to complete decommissioning. That is why Safestor is being used. It allows decommissioning funds to  through investment until sufficient funds are available for decommissioning.


And yeah, while Vermont is a wing nut state, it is on the other coast... 3rd door to the right, down the hall to the left   

[Dave Warren]

Latest rumor: Energy Solutions got the contract to shut down SONGS and HOLTEC will be doing the dry cask.

[GLW]

Latest rumor: Energy Solutions got the contract to shut down SONGS and HOLTEC will be doing the dry cask.

not yet,....

but later,...

food for thought on the left coast, best DnD schedule ever,....

Wednesday through Wednesday 12.5's,...

Thursday through Tuesday off,...

clock in on Wednesday morning and start over,....

I'm just saying,....

[milo124]

Rumor has it that bids for the DND were submitted?

[GLW]

DGC selection due in May,...

[SloGlo]

now theirs a sight eye could due a six month commit.

[Tattoo]

Rumor going around the last plant was that it was going to be union?  Am I understanding that no bids have been accepted yet?

[SpyCat]

For the curious, the latest news on SONGS' DnD can be found at this public site: https://www.songscommunity.com