Regulators delay decision on restarting San Onofre reactorMar 20 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - Pat Brennan The Orange County Register
Federal regulators have pushed back their estimate of when they are likely to decide whether one of the reactors at the San Onofre nuclear plant can be restarted. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission's website now indicates that the decision could come in May or June, not late April as previously estimated. Southern California Edison has proposed restarting one of its two shuttered reactors at reduced power. "The target date for the restart (decision) has been adjusted to reflect additional time needed by the NRC technical staff to evaluate some data submitted by Edison," said NRC spokesman Victor Dricks. The plant's four steam generators, two for each reactor, have design flaws that cause excessive vibrations, resulting in unexpected wear among thousands of metal tubes inside each generator. The problem was discovered after San Onofre's Unit 3 reactor was shut down, 2012, after a small release of radioactive gas. The other reactor, Unit 2, had been shut down earlier that month for routine maintenance. Inspections revealed patterns of wear in each of the steam generators. They had been installed in a $671 million operation between 2009 and early 2011. Edison has proposed restarting Unit 2 at 70 percent power and running it for five months, then shutting it down to inspect it again. The restart proposal has drawn fierce opposition from activist groups. On Monday, the NRC also submitted additional technical questions to Edison about the Unit 2 reactor. Contact the writer: 714-796-7865 or pbrennan@ocregister.com. http://www.energycentral.com/functional/news/news_detail.cfm?did=27983451 |