San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station
Encyclopedia
The San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS) is a nuclear power plant
located on the Pacific
coast of California
. The 84 acres (34 ha) site is in the northwestern corner of San Diego County
, south of San Clemente
, and surrounded by the San Onofre State Park
and next to the I-5 Highway
.
Unit 1 is no longer in service and has been dismantled. It is being used as a storage site for spent fuel. It had a spherical containment of concrete and steel with the smallest wall being 6 feet (1.8 m) thick. This reactor was a first generation Westinghouse pressurized water reactor
that operated for 25 years, closing permanently in 1992. Units 2 and 3, Combustion Engineering
pressurized water reactors, continue to operate and generate 1,172 MWe and 1,178 MWe respectively.
The July 12, 1982 edition of Time (magazine)
states, "The firm Bechtel
was further embarrassed in 1977, when it installed a 420-ton nuclear-reactor vessel backwards" at San Onofre.
The plant is operated by Southern California Edison
. Edison International
, parent of SCE, holds 78.2% ownership in the plant; San Diego Gas & Electric Company
, 20%; and the City of Riverside Utilities Department
, 1.8%. The plant employs over 2000 people.
The plant is located in Nuclear Regulatory Commission Region IV
.
defines two emergency planning zones around nuclear power plants: a plume exposure pathway zone with a radius of 10 miles (16.1 km), concerned primarily with exposure to, and inhalation of, airborne radioactive contamination, and an ingestion pathway zone of about 50 miles (80.5 km), concerned primarily with ingestion of food and liquid contaminated by radioactivity.
The 2010 U.S. population within 10 miles (16.1 km) of San Onofre was 92,687, an increase of 50.0 percent in a decade, according to an analysis of U.S. Census data for msnbc.com. The 2010 U.S. population within 50 miles (80.5 km) was 8,460,508, an increase of 14.9 percent since 2000. Cities within 50 miles include San Diego (45 miles to city center).
s around the reactors are designed to prevent unexpected releases of radiation. The closest tectonic fault line
is the Cristianitos fault, which is considered inactive. Southern California Edison
states the station was "built to withstand a 7.0 magnitude earthquake directly under the plant".
Unlike many pressurized water reactors, but like some other seaside facilities in Southern California, the San Onofre plant uses seawater for cooling, and thus lacks the iconic large cooling tower
s typically associated with nuclear generating stations. However, changes to water-use regulations may require construction of such cooling towers in the future to avoid further direct use of seawater. Limited available land next to the reactor would likely require the towers to be built on the opposite side of the Interstate 5 highway.
book, Fallout, Pakistani Air Force Pilots attempt to bomb San Onofre using stolen California Air National Guard
F-16s. In the James Bond
book License Renewed by John Gardner
, it was one of six nuclear power stations in the terrorist/blackmail plot "Meltdown" planned by The Laird of Murcaldy, Anton Murik. In the science fiction novel Timescape
, by Gregory Benford
, the nuclear plants at San Onofre raised the water temperature along the adjacent coast, which stimulated aquatic life.
The generating station was also featured in the 1983 film Koyaanisqatsi
.
In the 2011 TV series The Event, the fuel rods
were removed and transported from San Onofre Nuclear Generation Station to thwart the aliens' plan to steal the uranium to build their specialized transport array. The transport array was utilized to transport the citizens from their own planet to Earth.
Nuclear power plant
A nuclear power plant is a thermal power station in which the heat source is one or more nuclear reactors. As in a conventional thermal power station the heat is used to generate steam which drives a steam turbine connected to a generator which produces electricity.Nuclear power plants are usually...
located on the Pacific
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...
coast of California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
. The 84 acres (34 ha) site is in the northwestern corner of San Diego County
San Diego County, California
San Diego County is a large county located in the southwestern corner of the US state of California. Hence, San Diego County is also located in the southwestern corner of the 48 contiguous United States. Its county seat and largest city is San Diego. Its population was about 2,813,835 in the 2000...
, south of San Clemente
San Clemente, California
San Clemente is a city in Orange County, California. The population was 63,522 at the 2010 census. Located on the California Coast, midway between Los Angeles and San Diego at the southern tip of the county, it is known for its ocean, hill, and mountain views, a pleasant climate and its Spanish...
, and surrounded by the San Onofre State Park
San Onofre State Park
San Onofre State Beach is a state park located in San Diego County, California, USA. The beach is south of the city of San Clemente on Interstate 5 at Basilone Road. Governor Ronald Reagan established San Onofre State Beach in 1971...
and next to the I-5 Highway
Interstate 5 in California
Interstate 5 is a major north–south route of the Interstate Highway System in the U.S. state of California. It begins at the Mexico – United States border at the San Ysidro crossing, goes north across the length of California and crosses into Oregon south of the Medford-Ashland metropolitan...
.
Unit 1 is no longer in service and has been dismantled. It is being used as a storage site for spent fuel. It had a spherical containment of concrete and steel with the smallest wall being 6 feet (1.8 m) thick. This reactor was a first generation Westinghouse pressurized water reactor
Pressurized water reactor
Pressurized water reactors constitute a large majority of all western nuclear power plants and are one of three types of light water reactor , the other types being boiling water reactors and supercritical water reactors...
that operated for 25 years, closing permanently in 1992. Units 2 and 3, Combustion Engineering
Combustion Engineering
Combustion Engineering was an American engineering firm and leading firm in the development of power systems in the United States with approximately 30,000 employees in about a dozen states at its peak. Headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut, C-E owned over two dozen other companies including...
pressurized water reactors, continue to operate and generate 1,172 MWe and 1,178 MWe respectively.
The July 12, 1982 edition of Time (magazine)
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
states, "The firm Bechtel
Bechtel
Bechtel Corporation is the largest engineering company in the United States, ranking as the 5th-largest privately owned company in the U.S...
was further embarrassed in 1977, when it installed a 420-ton nuclear-reactor vessel backwards" at San Onofre.
The plant is operated by Southern California Edison
Southern California Edison
Southern California Edison , the largest subsidiary of Edison International , is the primary electricity supply company for much of Southern California, USA. It provides 14 million people with electricity...
. Edison International
Edison International
Edison International is a public utility holding company based in Rosemead, California. Its subsidiaries include Southern California Edison, and un-regulated non-utility assets Edison Mission Energy and Midwest Generation, power producers, and Edison Capital...
, parent of SCE, holds 78.2% ownership in the plant; San Diego Gas & Electric Company
San Diego Gas & Electric
San Diego Gas & Electric is the utility that provides natural gas and electricity to San Diego County and southern Orange County in southwestern California, United States...
, 20%; and the City of Riverside Utilities Department
Riverside, California
Riverside is a city in Riverside County, California, United States, and the county seat of the eponymous county. Named for its location beside the Santa Ana River, it is the largest city in the Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario metropolitan area of Southern California, 4th largest inland California...
, 1.8%. The plant employs over 2000 people.
The plant is located in Nuclear Regulatory Commission Region IV
Nuclear Regulatory Commission Region IV
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission Region IV is one of the regions of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Headquartered in Arlington, Texas, oversees the southern midwestern and the western United States.Region IV consists of 14 nuclear power plants....
.
Surrounding population
The Nuclear Regulatory CommissionNuclear Regulatory Commission
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is an independent agency of the United States government that was established by the Energy Reorganization Act of 1974 from the United States Atomic Energy Commission, and was first opened January 19, 1975...
defines two emergency planning zones around nuclear power plants: a plume exposure pathway zone with a radius of 10 miles (16.1 km), concerned primarily with exposure to, and inhalation of, airborne radioactive contamination, and an ingestion pathway zone of about 50 miles (80.5 km), concerned primarily with ingestion of food and liquid contaminated by radioactivity.
The 2010 U.S. population within 10 miles (16.1 km) of San Onofre was 92,687, an increase of 50.0 percent in a decade, according to an analysis of U.S. Census data for msnbc.com. The 2010 U.S. population within 50 miles (80.5 km) was 8,460,508, an increase of 14.9 percent since 2000. Cities within 50 miles include San Diego (45 miles to city center).
Environmental mitigation
Strong, spherical containment buildingContainment building
A containment building, in its most common usage, is a steel or reinforced concrete structure enclosing a nuclear reactor. It is designed, in any emergency, to contain the escape of radiation to a maximum pressure in the range of 60 to 200 psi...
s around the reactors are designed to prevent unexpected releases of radiation. The closest tectonic fault line
Fault line
In geology, fault line refers to the surface trace of a fault.Fault line, Fault Line, or faultline may also refer to:* "Faultline", a song from the 2008 studio album Versus by The Haunted...
is the Cristianitos fault, which is considered inactive. Southern California Edison
Southern California Edison
Southern California Edison , the largest subsidiary of Edison International , is the primary electricity supply company for much of Southern California, USA. It provides 14 million people with electricity...
states the station was "built to withstand a 7.0 magnitude earthquake directly under the plant".
Unlike many pressurized water reactors, but like some other seaside facilities in Southern California, the San Onofre plant uses seawater for cooling, and thus lacks the iconic large cooling tower
Cooling tower
Cooling towers are heat removal devices used to transfer process waste heat to the atmosphere. Cooling towers may either use the evaporation of water to remove process heat and cool the working fluid to near the wet-bulb air temperature or in the case of closed circuit dry cooling towers rely...
s typically associated with nuclear generating stations. However, changes to water-use regulations may require construction of such cooling towers in the future to avoid further direct use of seawater. Limited available land next to the reactor would likely require the towers to be built on the opposite side of the Interstate 5 highway.
Seismic risk
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission's estimate of the risk each year of an earthquake intense enough to cause core damage to the reactor at San Onofre was 1 in 58,824, according to an NRC study published in August 2010.In popular culture
In the James W. HustonJames W. Huston (author)
James Webb Huston is an American author and lawyer, best known for his popular military and legal thrillers. A graduate of TOPGUN, he served as a Naval Flight Officer and worked in Naval Intelligence before going on to become a New York Times best-selling author.- Early life :Huston grew up in...
book, Fallout, Pakistani Air Force Pilots attempt to bomb San Onofre using stolen California Air National Guard
California Air National Guard
The California Air National Guard is the air component of the California National Guard. The California Air National Guard is headquartered at Sacramento, California.One of the duties of the California Air National Guard is defense of the United States...
F-16s. In the James Bond
James Bond
James Bond, code name 007, is a fictional character created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short story collections. There have been a six other authors who wrote authorised Bond novels or novelizations after Fleming's death in 1964: Kingsley Amis,...
book License Renewed by John Gardner
John Gardner
John Champlin Gardner, Jr. was an American novelist, essayist, literary critic and university professor. He is perhaps most noted for his novel Grendel, a retelling of the Beowulf myth from the monster's point of view....
, it was one of six nuclear power stations in the terrorist/blackmail plot "Meltdown" planned by The Laird of Murcaldy, Anton Murik. In the science fiction novel Timescape
Timescape
Timescape is a 1980 novel by science fiction writer Gregory Benford . It won the 1980 Nebula and British Science Fiction Awards, and the 1981 John W. Campbell Memorial Award for Best Science Fiction Novel...
, by Gregory Benford
Gregory Benford
Gregory Benford is an American science fiction author and astrophysicist who is on the faculty of the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of California, Irvine...
, the nuclear plants at San Onofre raised the water temperature along the adjacent coast, which stimulated aquatic life.
The generating station was also featured in the 1983 film Koyaanisqatsi
Koyaanisqatsi
Koyaanisqatsi also known as Koyaanisqatsi: Life Out of Balance, is a 1982 film directed by Godfrey Reggio with music composed by Philip Glass and cinematography by Ron Fricke....
.
In the 2011 TV series The Event, the fuel rods
Nuclear fuel
Nuclear fuel is a material that can be 'consumed' by fission or fusion to derive nuclear energy. Nuclear fuels are the most dense sources of energy available...
were removed and transported from San Onofre Nuclear Generation Station to thwart the aliens' plan to steal the uranium to build their specialized transport array. The transport array was utilized to transport the citizens from their own planet to Earth.
External links
- SCE SONGS webpage
- Edison SONGS webpage
- Why Domes at San Onofre from North County TimesNorth County TimesThe North County Times is a local newspaper in north San Diego County, California owned by Lee Enterprises. It is headquartered in Escondido. The current publisher is Peter York....
- So. Calif. nuclear plant worker faked fire checks
- Decommission San Onofre Fukushima USA