[californiadisasters] $64 Million Quake Study For O.C. Nuke Plant

$64 million quake study for nuclear plant

April 14th, 2011, 5:45 pm · posted by Pat Brennan, O.C. Register science, environment editor

A new, $64 million study of earthquake fault patterns around the San Onofre nuclear plant will be proposed Friday by Southern California Edison, its scope broadened and its cost estimate more than doubled because of the nuclear disaster in Japan.

Edison will propose the study to the California Energy Commission; if approved, it would be paid for through customer rates, although Edison says that would add up to less than one percent of present overall rates.

The study will use state-of-the-art technology, characterizing in three dimensional detail the sea floor near the coastal plant and the geological picture beneath the land surface.

Edison is still evaluating what type of technology to use, but sonar would likely be used to map the ocean floor near the nuclear plant, while seismic vibration measurements as well as lidar, which uses laser light beamed from planes, would be used on land.

"One of the distinctions of the new study will be the use of new technology that can look deeper beneath the ocean and land surface to see what geologic conditions may exist," said Edison spokesman Gil Alexander.

A company that could be chosen by Edison to conduct the study, Fugro EarthData, Inc., has been mapping the California coastline since 2006 using a combination of sonar for ocean floor measurements and lidar.

The $25 million state effort involving state and federal agencies is still under way, said Fugro president Ed Saade.

"California was way ahead of the curve, way ahead of the rest of the nation and the world, trying to get a baseline for offshore sediments and habitats," he said. "But also for setting a baseline for sea-level rise monitoring, even tsunami inundation modeling."

The intensive mapping effort around San Onofre will augment existing data to create a sharper picture of earthquake and tsunami hazards facing the nuclear plant.

But the study, estimated at $31 million in November 2010, grew substantially in scope after Edison officials decided to expand it in light of the Japanese nuclear disaster.

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View entire article here: http://sciencedude.ocregister.com/2011/04/14/64-million-quake-study-for-nuclear-plant/125923/

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