Designed for disaster: San Onofre nuclear plant could become California’s Fukushima

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

RT News  A nuclear nightmare on par with the Fukushima disaster could have unfolded at a power plant outside of Los Angeles, California, federal regulators reveal to the Associated Press in a just-published report.

Following an incident at the San Onofre power plant this past January, federal regulators have investigated conditions at the facility around 70 miles south of Los Angeles. Now after months of meticulous investigating, regulators involved in the probe tell the AP that design flaws have caused the tubing that carries radioactive water throughout the plant to be worn down extensively.

A scare back in late January led to the temporary shut-down of the San Onofre power station. Nearly six months after the fact, however, the twin-reactor remains idle as investigators wrap up their thorough report. And much to the chagrin of management at the plant, it looks as if the leak suffered earlier this year wasn’t just a fluke.

Commenting on the investigation, Nuclear Regulatory Commission Regional Administrator Elmo Collins tells The Associated Press over the weekend that the design of the heavily modified generators at San Oforene is to blame for the rapid deterioration of the facility’s tubing. The AP adds that only one other nuclear plant in the US uses the same generators as those at San Onofre, but that facilities has not seen tube decay anywhere near what’s evident in southern California. The reasons, Collins suggests, is because the San Onofre plant produces a remarkable output of power. On the website for the facility’s owners, Edison International, the plant is described as being able to create 2,200 megawatts of electricity — “enough power to meet the needs of 1.4 million average Southern California homes at a point in time.”

“The phenomenon that we think causes this tube-to-tube interaction is definitely proportional to the power,” Collins adds. “At least in some theoretical sense, that might be part of the answer.”

The rest of the answer might be a ways in the future, though. Although regulators believe they have pin-pointed the culprit at San Onofre, actually correcting the issue is a whole other story. Of particular concern is also the age of the components believed to be behind the leak. The plant’s current steam generators were installed as replacement in 2009 and 2010 at a cost of $670 million.

The NRC adds in their report that of the 129 steam generator tubes tested in March of this year, eight had failed completely, “indicating that they could rupture during some operating conditions.”

“The integrity of steam-generator tubes is important because the tubes provide an additional barrier inside the containment building to prevent a radioactive steam release,” the report adds.

“It’s not too hard to frame up the problem,” Collins says. “The answers are very difficult, or they already would have emerged.”

“These are significant technical issues. They are not resolved yet.”

Unit 2 of the San Onofre facility was shut down for routine maintenance and upgrades earlier this year when the plant’s crew was forced to halt operations of Unit 3 upon discovering the leak.

A meeting is being held Monday night to dsicuss the specifics of the report. In a statement released by the groups Residents United for a Safe Environment and San Clemente Green, critics of the plant say “the crippled San Onofre nuclear power plant has posed an unnecessary risk to our environment and our communities. It has also left Southern California Edison ratepayers footing a $670.8 million bill for critically flawed steam-generator equipment.”

 

source:

http://fromthetrenchesworldreport.com/designed-for-disaster-san-ono...

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Comment by jim on July 15, 2012 at 4:55pm

this is a serious problem, these Reactors across the United Stares are all old and are in dire need of upgrades and

Extreme makeovers the reactors the United States have are also the very same as the ones in Japan

That doesn’t make any of us feel any better. It’s just a matter of time these nuclear time bombs will start to go off one by one. GOD FORBID.

Comment by truth on July 14, 2012 at 4:55pm
San Onofre nuclear plant problem worse than thought: report

By Agence France-Presse
Thursday, July 12, 2012 20:26 EDT



LOS ANGELES — US nuclear regulators published an update on California’s troubled San Onofre power plant Thursday, sparking an expert warning that the problem is more serious than first thought.

A reactor at the nuclear power plant near San Diego was shut down in January after a radiation leak, although the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) said there was no danger to the public.

Investigations found unexpected erosion on tubes that carry radioactive water, and the entire plant was shut down, forcing Californian authorities to fire up alternative power generation facilities.

On Thursday, an update on the tube erosion, posted on an obscure part of the NRC’s website, showed the situation had worsened.

“This reveals a far greater problem than has been previously disclosed, and raises serious questions about whether it is safe to restart either unit,” said Daniel Hirsch, a nuclear expert at the University of California, Santa Cruz.

The new data shows that more than 3,400 steam generator tubes in the new steam generators at San Onofre have been found to be damaged — about 1,800 in Unit 3 and 1,600 in Unit 2 — he said.

More: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/07/12/san-onofre-nuclear-plant-prob...

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