The operator of a shuttered Southern California nuclear plant is preparing to remove radioactive fuel from one of the twin reactors, yet another sign that the unit won't be repowered any time soon.

Southern California Edison plans to transfer fuel from the crippled Unit 3 reactor at the San Onofre power plant to an on-site spent fuel pool, where the material will be cooled and monitored.

The plant, about 60 miles north of San Diego, has been closed since a January radiation leak in the Unit 3 steam generator.

Degraded tubes were also found in the Unit 2 generator, and officials from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission revealed in June that multiple tubes carrying radioactive water were at risk of rupture (Greenwire, June 19).

Although Southern California Edison has said it hopes to restart Unit 2 in the coming months, the company said in a statement yesterday that it doesn't expect Unit 3 to operate "in the near future" because tubes connected to the reactor's steam generator were more severely worn.

The plant's outage has sparked concern among ratepayer watchdogs over who should pay for the millions of dollars in needed repairs to the plant. As of June 20, Southern California Edison had spent $117 million and San Diego Gas & Electric $25 million (Greenwire, Aug. 23).

For now, it's unclear how much money Southern California Edison can recoup from ratepayers or the vendor of the generator.

Dave Lochbaum, director of the nuclear safety project at the Union of Concerned Scientists, said the utility's possible restart of Unit 2 could help the utility define the costs for restarting Unit 3.

Until then, Lochbaum said, it makes financial sense for the utility to move reactor fuel from Unit 3 into a wet storage pool because it cuts down on the number of required inspections and tests needed to meet federal safety standards.

The transfer also eases the amount of work for a limited number of staff, he said. The utility announced earlier this month that it would cut the workforce at the San Onofre plant by one-third, eliminating 730 positions and shrinking the staff to 1,500 people.

But Lochbaum said the San Diego reactor could be restarted after years, even decades, of being shut down.

The Tennessee Valley Authority restarted Unit 1 of its Browns Ferry plant, about 100 miles south of Nashville, Tenn., after more than two decades of closure, Lochbaum said. The unit was restarted in 2007 and now supplies about 650,000 homes with electricity, according to TVA.