Locals force nuclear power plant to close

Press, 22 June 1989, Page 39

Locals force nuclear power plant to close

By

JOHN HUTCHINSON

in Sacramento. A nuclear power plant has been closed by the customers it served, in the first such action in the United States. Rancho Seco, run near Sacramento by the Sacramento Municipal Utility District, was closed almost immediately after a referendum which, although not binding, was accepted by the district management. The plant had been plagued by more than 100 unplanned shutdowns since it opened in 1974. In 1985 it suffered an alarming accident and was closed for repair until April, 1988. Since then it has been unable to run at full capacity.

The citizens’ action was hailed by the anti-nuclear movement as a watershed — the first to succeed of 16 such voter efforts throughout the United States, although vociferous protests have slowed the constitution

of several American nuclear plants, and no new plants have been projected for more than a decade. Rancho Seco was bitterly criticised for faulty design, mismanagement and costly rates. Frustrated customers finally said the plant should be scrapped. The disposal price will be high. The plant cost SUS4OO million to build, twice what it was supposed to. Rates rocketed because of unending repairs. Now it is estimated that decommissioning the installation might cost SUS24O million, plus an increase in power rates from a substitute source. Five hundred Rancho Seco employees were laid off immediately. Seven hundred more will become redundant in the next 18 months, while the decommissioning proceeds.

As in most of the industry, the average is

high; Rancho Seco has a payroll ,of almost SUSIOO million annually. The unemployment means a serious impact on the economy of the 350,000 people of Sacramento and its environs.

More than one-third of the district’s electrical energy was supplied by the plant, which generated 2800 million kilowatt hours a year. The district has 426,000 customers. Nuclear power industry spokesmen say the Sacramento action does not signal closings by citizens elsewhere. The United States Council For Energy Awareness is continuing a national campaign promoting more nuclear power development.

But one of the officers of the Safe Energy Communications Council, a coalition of anti-nuclear organisations, said, “Rancho Seco may well be remembered as the Waterloo of United States nuclear power development.”