“My general impression from what I have seen in that report is San Onofre was very very sloppy, very very careless in handling radioactive material,” he told NBC 7 Investigates. “You basically had hundreds of pieces of contaminated equipment.”
The radiation levels around the concrete cubicle were so elevated “the inspector did not perform a survey inside,” according to the document
Documents Detail How Nuclear Material Was Handled at San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station, 7 San Diego
Expert tells NBC 7 Investigates handling of nuclear material was “sloppy”
By JW August and Lynn Walsh Documents newly obtained by NBC 7 Investigates during secret talks about the condition of the land where the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS) sits detail how nuclear material was handled at the plant since the 1980s.
The documents were released to individuals involved with the secret negotiations about the current condition and future handling of the 25-acre property. According to a source familiar with the negotiations, the secret meetings have been going on for about 20 months and involve all the players with a stake in the prime coastal property.
Those players include the U.S. Navy, which owns the property; the U.S. Marines, whose base surrounds the property; and Southern California Edison (SCE) and San Diego Gas and Electric (SDG&E), both of which hold the lease to the property.
The current lease was signed on April 2011, and according to the agreement, ends on May 12, 2023.
A source close to the lease negotiations told NBC 7 Investigates that SCE and SDG&E want out of the lease as soon as possible. According to the source, the team representing the utilities has told all involved they want nondisclosure agreements signed so no one can go public with any information disclosed during the negotiations.
So far, one or more of the parties involved in the talks are refusing to sign the nondisclosure agreements.
This has caused the lease negotiations to go slowly, according to NBC 7 Investigates’ source, who said the utilities are reluctant to provide full disclosure on what has occurred on the property since they took possession of it.
In an email, an SCE spokesperson told NBC 7 Investigates the company has shared substantial information about the property lease with the public. Responses to other questions were left unanswered by the company. The Navy, Marines and SDG&E did not respond to questions or request for comment for this story.
Read the full initial response from SCE below.[on original]
NBC 7 Investigates received a copy of two documents the utilities have provided the team negotiating on behalf of the government.
One is a Nuclear Regulatory Commission inspection report, written very early in SONGS’ life. It is dated 1981, a relatively long time ago in human terms, but not so much, experts say, when it comes to radioactive materials.
After reviewing this document and one other document NBC 7 Investigates received, Joe Hopenfeld, an expert on the nuclear power industry, said, “It was unbelievable what they were doing there.”
Hopenfeld, who lives in Maryland, has worked in the nuclear power field for 55 years.
“My general impression from what I have seen in that report is San Onofre was very very sloppy, very very careless in handling radioactive material,” he told NBC 7 Investigates. “You basically had hundreds of pieces of contaminated equipment.”
The property discussed in the documents includes the land in and around the reactor domes and across Interstate 5, which is called Japanese Mesa or the “Mesa,” according to the paperwork.
The two documents detail contaminated equipment was stored on both sides of the freeway and elevated radiation levels were found in January 1981 at “the beach area adjoining the tsunami wall.”
“You basically had hundreds of pieces of contaminated equipment,” Hopenfeld said.
According to the 1981 report, plant employees told an Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) inspector that they felt the waste monitor tanks inside of an auxiliary building were probably the source of radiation found on the beach. However, the inspector focused on a concrete block cubicle near the building which employees said contained “fairly high levels of radioactive waste.”
The radiation levels around the concrete cubicle were so elevated “the inspector did not perform a survey inside,” according to the documents……..
