II. Background

SONGS is currently in operation with a capacity of approximately 2,150 megawatts (MW). It is located on the California coast 62 miles southeast of Los Angeles, in San Diego County, near the City of San Clemente. The site is located within the boundaries of the Camp Pendleton Marine Corps Base. Each of the two units has two steam generators manufactured by Combustion Engineering, Inc. (CE). In each steam generator, the heat from water circulated through the reactor is used to turn another stream of water into steam to power turbines that turn electric generators.

SONGS is currently licensed by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to operate until 2022. SCE estimates that SONGS will likely be required to shut down because of the degradation of the steam generators in 2009. As a result, SCE is requesting approval of the SGRP in this application.

Hearings were held from January 30 through February 11, 2005. The application was submitted on June 21, 2005.