California utility fined for its handling of nuke canisters

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is fining the Southern California Edison utility $116,000 for violations in its handling of nuclear canisters at the shuttered San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station.

The decision announced yesterday in an online town hall meeting involves the transfer of radioactive nuclear waste containers from cooling pools to safer bunkers.

The violations were a failure to have a backup system in case a fuel canister was dropped and failure to notify the commission within 24 hours after a canister was at risk of being dropped into an 18-foot-deep bunker rather than being lowered.

The Orange County Register reports Southern California Edison can dispute the fine but issued a statement indicating it would accept the penalty, saying the event shouldn’t have happened and takes full responsibility.

In the meantime, the San Onofre Community Engagement Panel will discuss at its meeting in Laguna Hills on Thursday, improvements made to the fuel transfer operations at the San Onofre nuclear plant since the Aug. 3 canister-downloading incident.

The meeting begins at 5:30 in the evening at the Laguna Hills Community Center. Staffed information booths will be open at 4:30 in the afternoon.

The meeting will be live-streamed via www.songscommunity.com