SONGS Is Getting Better (Maybe)

On December 14, 2010 the NRC held a public meeting with Southern California Edison to discuss recent safety-related performance at the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS).  As you know, SONGS has been plagued for years by incidents, including willful violations, and employees claiming they fear retaliation if they report or discuss such incidents.  The newspaper item* on the meeting had an upbeat tone, and quoted NRC deputy director Troy Pruett, as saying:

"The trick now is for you guys to continue some of the successes you've had in the last two, three, four months."

That sounds good, and we hope SONGS continues to perform at a satisfactory level.  But the reality is a few months of symptom-free behavior is not enough to declare the patient cured.  To get a feel for the plant’s history of problems, check out this earlier article** by the same reporter.  In addition, please refer to our September, 2010 posts (here and here) for our perspective on what the underlying issues might be.

We’re Still Here

As you may have noticed, we haven’t been posting recently.  It’s not for lack of interest; we just haven’t come across much news or other items worthy of comment or passing on to you.  We will not waste your time (or ours) with fluff simply to fill the space.  If you have any safety culture news, articles, publications, etc. that you’d like us to review and comment on, please let us know about them via email.

*  P. Sisson, “San Onofre: Federal regulators report progress at nuclear plant,” North Country Times (Dec 14, 2010).

**  P. Sisson, “San Onofre: Latest progress report on nuke plant set for Tuesday,” North Country Times (Dec 9, 2010).