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Unit 3, one of two 1,100-megawatt nuclear generators at San Onofre, was shut down for what was supposed to be a 55-day refueling on Sept. 26. It was scheduled to return to service on Nov. 21, but plant managers now say it will be off line until early January, according to the North County Times.
The cracks do not pose an immediate safety risk because they are so small, Clyde Osterholtz, senior plant inspector for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission told the Times.
Microscopic cracks were detected during an inspection of about 30 industrial-strength water heaters attached to the plant's pressurizers, plant spokesman Ray Golden told the Times.
The heaters, which will be replaced, keep the nuclear reactor's coolant at a constant 2,200 pounds per square inch and are critical in making sure that the water inside the reactor's core does not come to a boil.
The cracks were not yet large enough to leak water, Golden told the Times. It will cost nearly $7 million to replace the heaters.
In the meantime, work on refueling the plant has stopped, the Times reported. Refueling crews have temporarily resealed the reactor's core and will not be able to add new fuel until the heater work is complete.
The plant's two steam generators -- large pipe structures that help turn water into steam -- are also cracking, forcing San Onofre to propose replacing them at an estimated cost of $600 million, the Times reported.
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