Violation ID |
Occurred Date |
Violation Type |
(-) Violation Description |
Corrective Action |
Status |
Classification |
Source |
1117434 |
04/30/2023 |
DMON |
Missed monitoring turbidity at INF-002 in April. |
SONGS NPDES sampling procedure was revised and turbidity monitoring requirement was inadvertently deleted. Procedure will be revised to reinstate the monthly turbidity monitoring requirement as required by the NPDES permit. |
Violation |
U |
eSMR |
1117435 |
04/30/2023 |
DMON |
Missed monitoring turbidity at INF-003 in April. |
SONGS NPDES sampling procedure was revised and turbidity monitoring requirement was inadvertently deleted. Procedure will be revised to reinstate the monthly turbidity monitoring requirement as required by the NPDES permit. |
Violation |
U |
eSMR |
1116003 |
02/07/2023 |
CTOX |
Chronic Toxicity-Sea Urchin or Sand Dollar-Fertilization Event Discharge limit is 50 % effect and reported value was 80 % effect at EFF-002. |
No changes to the plant's effluent had occurred that would warrant failure of the first sample (collected on 2/7/23), and at the time of sampling, discharges were limited to the Sewage Treatment Plant (at approximately 3300 gallons per minute [gpm]) and NIA Sump (a 4-minute run at 2,000 gpm [for approximately 8400 gallons]). We inspected the site and confirmed with our Sewage Treatment Plant Operator (IPC) and our off-shore receiving water contractor (MBC), nothing unusual was identified that could be a potential source of metal toxicity. Additionally, there were no operational upset conditions identified at SONGS. The results of the semiannual sample collected at the same time as the quarterly indicate metals were at Non-Detect levels, therefore there were no metal contaminants of concern in this effluent. A second sample was collected and submitted for toxicity analysis on February 22, 2023 as required by NPDES permit conditions. The plant effluents at the time of the second sample were the same as the first, with the addition of a small overnight rain event. The second sample passed with 1.7% effect. |
Violation |
U |
eSMR |
1113224 |
10/25/2022 |
CAT1 |
Total Suspended Solids (TSS) 30-Day Average limit is 30 mg/L and reported value was 33 mg/L at INT-002-L. |
|
Violation |
B |
Report |
1113223 |
10/24/2022 |
CAT1 |
Total Suspended Solids (TSS) 30-Day Average limit is 30 mg/L and reported value was 38.6 mg/L at INT-002-L. |
|
Violation |
B |
Report |
1113222 |
10/06/2022 |
CAT1 |
Total Suspended Solids (TSS) 30-Day Average limit is 30 mg/L and reported value was 47.8 mg/L at INT-002-L. |
|
Violation |
B |
Report |
1113221 |
10/05/2022 |
CAT1 |
Total Suspended Solids (TSS) 30-Day Average limit is 30 mg/L and reported value was 52 mg/L at INT-002-L. |
|
Violation |
B |
Report |
1109727 |
09/26/2022 |
CAT1 |
Oil and Grease 30-Day Average limit is 15 mg/L and reported value was 59.4 mg/L at INT-002-L. |
Corrective actions began on 27 September 2022, and all discharges to this system were discontinued until corrective actions were completed. Initial corrective actions included drawing down the majority of the wastewater from the receiving compartment/discharge basin of the Common Oil Removal System to the attached holding basin. In accordance with the operation and maintenance manual for to reset the system, fresh water was added to the receiving compartment, and the system was placed in recirculation mode. This recirculation mode was continued until TSS and O&G analysis meet the SONGS NPDES permit's daily maximum effluent limits (on 10/05). Subsequently, pumping water from the turbine plant sumps was resumed, and the Common Oil Removal System was placed back into service. |
Violation |
B |
eSMR |
1109729 |
09/26/2022 |
CAT1 |
Oil and Grease Daily Maximum limit is 20 mg/L and reported value was 59.4 mg/L at INT-002-L. |
Corrective actions began on 27 September 2022, and all discharges to this system were discontinued until corrective actions were completed. Initial corrective actions included drawing down the majority of the wastewater from the receiving compartment/discharge basin of the Common Oil Removal System to the attached holding basin. In accordance with the operation and maintenance manual for to reset the system, fresh water was added to the receiving compartment, and the system was placed in recirculation mode. This recirculation mode was continued until TSS and O&G analysis meet the SONGS NPDES permit's daily maximum effluent limits (on 10/05). Subsequently, pumping water from the turbine plant sumps was resumed, and the Common Oil Removal System was placed back into service. |
Violation |
B |
eSMR |
1109728 |
09/26/2022 |
CAT1 |
Total Suspended Solids (TSS) 30-Day Average limit is 30 mg/L and reported value was 95.5 mg/L at INT-002-L. |
Corrective actions began on 27 September 2022, and all discharges to this system were discontinued until corrective actions were completed. Initial corrective actions included drawing down the majority of the wastewater from the receiving compartment/discharge basin of the Common Oil Removal System to the attached holding basin. In accordance with the operation and maintenance manual for to reset the system, fresh water was added to the receiving compartment, and the system was placed in recirculation mode. This recirculation mode was continued until TSS and O&G analysis meet the SONGS NPDES permit's daily maximum effluent limits (on 10/05). Subsequently, pumping water from the turbine plant sumps was resumed, and the Common Oil Removal System was placed back into service. |
Violation |
B |
eSMR |
1101222 |
01/10/2022 |
DMON |
With the exception of the first week of the month, the plant intake pumps were in operation only during weekends, outside normal work hours. Temperature readings were not collected during three weekend run times. Upon discovery of this discrepancy an email was provided to the Waterboard on 2/8/22. Also note that the SONGS offshore temperature buoys are still monitoring for temperature and is reported in our Annual offshore monitoring report. |
Cooling water has not been required at the plant since 8/26/2016 and, as expected, a 0 degree temperature differential has been recorded since that time. The intake pumps will be shutdown periodically to support plant decommissioning, and SONGS will improve coordination/communication amongst decommissioning groups to ensure that weekly water temperatures are recorded prior to shutting down the pumps. |
Violation |
U |
eSMR |
1072712 |
03/25/2020 |
UAUTHDISC |
On March 25, 2020, SCE reported that San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS) Sewage Treatment Plant (STP) released between 6,000 to 7,000 gallons of partially treated domestic wastewater into and through the SONGS Unit 2 ocean outfall (Unit 2 Outfall) to the Pacific Ocean. |
|
Violation |
B |
Report |
1073309 |
03/25/2020 |
Surface Water |
Due to an unexpected influx of approximately 20,000+ gallons of wastewater influent occurring after work hours on March 24, 2020, and other contributing factors the sewage treatment plant (STP) released between 6,000 and 7,000 gallons of partially treated sewage wastewater to the Unit 2 ocean conduit on March 25, 2020. Prior to release to the conduit, the effluent was diluted with saltwater and then discharged through the mile-long conduit into the ocean. Based on the STP state-certified operator''s (Integrated Performance Consultants, registration number CO 0083) discharge records the period of noncompliance is estimated to be approximately from 0530 to 0730 hours on March 25, 2020.
During the release, the partially treated effluent was diluted by a factor greater than the minimum 10:1 dilution required by the NPDES permit. The SONGS dilution pumps were diluting the STP¿s effluent by an actual factor of 224:1 based on pump operating logs (two pumps running). Additional dilution of the waste occurred as it was discharged into U2 conduit that contains approximately 11,251,000 gallons of seawater before reaching the first outlet diffuser installed in the conduit more than a mile offshore. |
An initial evaluation of the event has been completed and interim corrective actions were implemented to allow the sewage treatment plant (STP) to be restarted. Once the interim corrective actions were implemented and effluent samples (during recirc) were analyzed to assure compliance, SONGS management and the State Certified STP operator concurred that the STP could be restarted. The STP was restarted on April 8, 2020. Following restart, monthly samples were immediately taken to confirm monthly results were compliant. Additional corrective actions will also be implemented upon the completion of a more detailed Apparent Cause Evaluation. |
Violation |
B |
eSMR |
Report displays most recent five years of violations. Refer to the Interactive Violation Report for more data.
|