PUC Proposes Decision

An announcement about the Public Utilities Commission’s proposed decision on San Onofre was forwarded to this blog by Mission Viejo resident Joe Holtzman.

Subject: 1st CA PUC Proposed Decision in San Onofre Outage/Cost Investigation

BREAKING NEWS: Agreeing with the position taken by the Coalition to Decommission San Onofre and other allies in the CA PUC's Investigation into the San Onofre outage of 2012-2013, the assigned Administrative Law Judges just published a Proposed Decision in Phase 1 (2012 expenditures) -- (from the Summary of the Proposed Decision, linked below).

"However, we find SCE to be single-minded about its restart plan, and slow to understand the technical challenges and regulatory timeframe required to implement it. SCE’s decision to apply resources to a restart plan was the result of an unsound decision-making process, primarily because SCE did not consider cost effectiveness or alternatives such as putting Unit 2 into preservation mode, or realistically assess the regulatory hurdles blocking a reasonably foreseeable restart." and "The decision establishes May 7, 2012 as the date by which SCE knew, or should have known, that the new type of tube wear linked to the tube leak in Unit 3 was also present, to a lesser degree, in Unit 2. Therefore, Unit 2 and Unit 3 would not likely return to normal operations in the short-term. Despite unduly optimistic reports to SCE’s Board of Directors, SCE was aware that no submission to the NRC could occur for months, and SCE’s internal actions signaled an understanding that repair options were far from developed."

More analysis coming -- 1st San O refunds of about $95 million proposal. There is a 30-day comment period on this Proposed Decision, then it goes before the 5-member Commission for finalization and voting at a Commission Meeting, most likely in January (the Commission meets twice a month). 

Barbara George is smiling down on us.

Intervenor Team, Coalition to Decommission San Onofre

http://docs.cpuc.ca.gov/PublishedDocs/Efile/G000/M081/K627/81627425.PDF