L.A. NOW
Southern California — this just in
September 12, 2012 | 6:01 pm

The darkened San Onofre power plant will not restart even one of its two reactors for months, the head of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission said Wednesday.

In the meantime, anti-nuclear advocates stepped up pressure to keep the plant shut down, with the release of an analysis showing that the issues with San Onofre’s steam generators are among the worst in the industry.

The plant has been shuttered since Jan. 31, when a tube in one of the plant’s newly replaced steam generators leaked, releasing a small amount of radioactive steam, and leading to the discovery that hundreds of other tubes were wearing out more rapidly than expected.

NRC Chairwoman Allison Macfarlane said at a U.S. Senate committee hearing on nuclear safety that Southern California Edison, the operator of the troubled nuclear plant, has told the agency it plans to submit an analysis of the problems and a restart plan for one of the plant’s two reactors, Unit 2, by the end of the first week in October.

Once that happens, she said, NRC staff will review the plan in a process that “will be longer than days and weeks –- it will be on the order of months.”

Edison has no immediate plans to submit a restart plan for the second reactor, Unit 3, which had more tubes with damage overall and more of a particularly unusual type of damage caused by tubes rubbing against other tubes.

The company has said that unit may not be able to fire up again without extensive repairs and has announced plans to remove fuel from the reactor.

Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) questioned NRC commissioners at the hearing on their plans for San Onofre and suggested making regulatory changes that would require more extensive review of future projects, such as the costly steam generator replacement.

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