The chairwoman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission yesterday dispelled rumors that a crippled nuclear plant in California would be operational next month, saying the facility will still be closed for months.

Allison Macfarlane, in her first testimony on Capitol Hill since she took the helm of NRC two months ago, told a Senate panel that the operator of the San Onofre plant must first prove the reactors are safe.

"We will not let this plant start up unless we are absolutely convinced that it is safe to operate, let me assure you," Macfarlane told the Senate Environment and Public Works Subcommittee on Clean Air and Nuclear Safety.

NRC is expecting a letter from Southern California Edison by the first week of October, detailing the utility's understanding of the root causes of the plant shutdown, which has been out of service since Jan. 31, she said. Investigators at the plant near San Clemente found hundreds of deteriorated tubes in the twin reactors, some of which had been carrying radioactive water.

Following receipt of that letter, the commission will examine if SCE has appropriately determined the cause of the shutdown and if the company's plan to reopen the plant will provide adequate safety -- a process that will take months rather than weeks, Macfarlane said.

Macfarlane's comments came in response to questions from Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), the chairwoman of the full committee, about rumors she had heard that the plant would open in October.

Southern California Edison hasn't given a timeline for restarting the reactor, and recently announced it was removing fuel from one of the units (Greenwire, Aug. 29).

Boxer has been pushing for a comprehensive federal safety review of the plant and has also questioned the utility's ability to evacuate people around the reactors during an emergency.

The Senate panel also quizzed Macfarlane and her fellow NRC commissioners -- two Republicans and two Democrats -- about their work to upgrade the safety at nuclear reactors following the disaster that erupted at Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant last March.

Fire concerns

Boxer also took aim at the commission for failing to clamp down on plant operators' compliance with federal fire safety rules.

Federal regulators impose rules to protect reactors from fires but allow companies to take alternative actions if they cannot meet those requirements. The companies' compensatory measures can stay in place indefinitely.

But Boxer cited concerns raised by the Union of Concerned Scientists, which issued a report that found fires account for half of reactor core damage risk. Boxer said about 31 reactors across 17 states are not in compliance.

NRC, she said, should "get these plants to code" and chastise the companies that don't meet high safety standards instead of doing little to motivate industry compliance.

"I think the people in these communities ought to know that their nuclear power plants are not in compliance, let them start to write letters and say, 'Hey, get into gear here and fix it up,'" she said.

Boxer vowed to send NRC a letter in the coming weeks to push for transparency and highlight the failure of plants to comply with NRC fire safety regulations.

Former Chairman Gregory Jaczko -- who resigned in July amid accusations that he mismanaged the agency -- was an advocate of boosting fire regulations for nuclear plants. Jaczko faced opposition from his colleagues, but his former bosses, including Senate Majority Harry Reid (D-Nev.), said he was being targeted for trying to rein in the nuclear industry (E&ENews PM, July 5).

Macfarlane, a former professor and geologist, said she has fostered collegiality within the agency for the past two months, a sentiment her fellow commissioners seconded.

Macfarlane also vowed that the agency has sufficient resources to upgrade safety at U.S. nuclear plants following the Japanese crisis and said the country's 104 reactors are safe.