San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station to close permanently
Southern California Edison decided yesterday, after a 16-month effort to revive the damaged power plant, to close the facility permanently after 45 years of operation! A radiation leak led to the discovery that recently replaced steam generator tubes were degraded. The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission prohibited the utility from restarting the power plant, citing numerous equipment failures. About 7.4 million people live within 50 miles on San Onofre, which used to supply enough power for 1.4 million homes, nearly 1/5 of the region’s power. The outage cost millions of dollars. The environmental group, Friends of the Earth, presented its case for not restarting the power plant to federal regulators in January of this year.
The dismantling of the site will take DECADES, and BILLIONS of dollars have been set aside for the task.
Other power plants, mostly using natural gas, have satisfied Southern California‘s electricity needs as California rapidly expands its solar and wind generation.
The news article describes the state of “finger pointing” as a number of factions try to deflect the costs of the failed nuclear facility.
-Bill at
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