Reactor Decommissioning History
San Onofre Unit 2 and 3 (SONGS-2 & 3)
revised 10 March 2015

Overview

SONGS-2 and 3 are commercial Combustion Engineering (CE or C-E) PWR power reactors. Each reactor had 2 steam generators, and considered 2-loop reactors. However, because each SG has 2 cold legs, they can sometimes be referred to as 4-loop. Both had a generating capacity of around 1100 MWe each and are both owned by SCE (Southern California Edison). These are referred to as "Category 5" CE Plants. They operated from 1983/1984 to 2012 after problems with recently installed Steam Generators.

On June 12, 2013 SCE formally notified the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) that it had permanently ceased operation of both units on June 7, 2013. Currently SCE is planning to remove both reactors over the next few years. A request for proposal is expected to be released in early 2015 with intent to complete segmentation of both reactors in 2019.

On December 16, 2013 the 77-ton Unit-2 reactor vessel head (RVH) was shipped off site for disposal at the EnergySolutions Clive facility. It had been off the vessel for almost 2 years. Therefore, PlantD has added Songs-2 and Songs-3 to our reactor decommissioning "In Progress" list.

Click here for SONGS-1 page.

Reactor Decommissioning Specifics

Internals Removal
Nothing has been announced but expected to be segmented. No cutting process mentioned, but mechanical segmentation appears to be the industry favorite at this time.

Reactor Vessel Removal
Until recently, an intact shipment of all three RV's (Unit-1 is stored outside) seems to be the favored approach. On September 23, 2014 a SCE letter to the NRC in the section referring to the reactor vessels stated: "It is likely that the components will be removed by sectioning or segmenting performed remotely".

As close to a kick off as you can get, the 77-ton Unit-2 RV head left site 16 December 2013

Segmentation and Packaging Plan (S&P Plan)
Nothing has been announced. Expect details July 2015.

Key People (reactor related)
None at this time.

Contractors
None regarding the reactors at this time.

Comments
Songs 2 and 3 were part of the 2013 Nuclear De-Renaissance along with USA plants Crystal River, Vermont Yankee, and Kewaunee. This is only the second CE (Combustion Engineering) designed PWR be decommissioned. Maine Yankee was smaller and done previously. Humboldt Bay reactor was manufactured by CE, but for GE. Besides it begin a BWR, it was a small and unique design.

Related Publications and Documents
No published technical papers at this time relating to the decommissioning of this reactor or segmentation of the reactor internals.

References
IAEA PRIS - ongoing.
Web page: www.songscommunity.com as of 3/10/2015.
SCE web page - ongoing.
NRC web page - ongoing.
September 23, 2014 SCE letter to the NRC.
Others on file.

Click here to return to the Reactor Decommissioning History main page.