nuclear-news

U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission perturbed about troubled San Onofre nuclear station

US nuclear agency head to visit troubled Calif reactors  HOUSTON, Apr 5, 2012   (Reuters) – The chairman of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission and several California lawmakers are scheduled to tour the troubled San Onofre nuclear station in the state on Friday, the agency said.

NRC Chair Gregory Jaczko will visit Southern California Edison’s 2,150-megawatt San Onofre nuclear station near San Diego, where both reactors have been shut since January due to the discovery of premature wear on tubes inside giant steam generators.

The steam generator tubes provide an additional barrier inside the
containment building to prevent a release of radioactive steam.
Accelerated wear, which thins the tube walls, in new steam generators
is unusual, NRC officials have said. A special NRC inspection team
arrived at the site on March 19.

The NRC on March 27 said it would not allow the utility to restart the
plant until the agency is sure that the premature degradation of tubes
in the plant’s steam generators has been addressed.

Environmental and local citizens’ groups have called for a thorough
investigation of the problems at San Onofre and for more public
disclosure from SCE.

The California Independent System Operator is looking at ways to
bolster the power grid in southern California should the San Onofre
outage continue into the summer, when power demand rises……
http://uk.reuters.com/article/2012/04/05/utilities-nuclear-nrc-idUKL2E8F5AV520120405

April 6, 2012 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | business and costs, USA