·

California nuclear station shuts down unit over possible leak

california-nuclear-station-shuts-down-unit-over-possible-leak

The San Onofre nuclear station in southern California  shut down one of its units as sensors detected a possible leak Tuesday evening.

The Southern California Edison (SCE), operator of the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS) south of San Clemente, announced that it has begun a precautionary shutdown of the Unit 3 because sensors detected a possible leak in one of the unit’s steam generator tubes.

An SCE statement said, “The potential leak poses no imminent danger to the public or plant workers. There has been no release to the atmosphere.”

The SONGS said through Twitter that “The possible leak is inside the containment dome, no release into the atmosphere,” and “No imminent danger to public.” The Unit 3 was shut down at around 5:30 p.m. (01:30 GMT, Wednesday).

The SCE said the cause of the leak is under investigation and the repair work will follow before it resumes operation. The company has reported the incident to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

The San Onofre is jointly owned by the SCE (78.21 percent), San Diego Gas & Electric (20 percent), and the city of Riverside (1.79 percent). The nuclear station is Southern California’s largest source of electricity. Its two units can generate 2,200 megawatts of power, enough to meet the needs of 1.4 million average homes at a point in time.

The SCE said Unit 2 in the station is currently offline for a planned maintenance, refueling and technology upgrade outage. But the company said it has ample reserve power to meet customer needs while Unit 3 is offline.

The SCE is one of the largest electric utilities in the United States, serving a population of nearly 14 million in central, coastal and southern California.

Source: XinhuaNet

Featured image credit: UbAlert

Update Feb. 01, 2012, 20:015 UTC 

Officials: Radiation ‘could have’ escaped plant

(click on the headline above or here for full story)

Share:

Commenting rules and guidelines

We value the thoughts and opinions of our readers and welcome healthy discussions on our website. In order to maintain a respectful and positive community, we ask that all commenters follow these rules:

  • Treat others with kindness and respect.
  • Stay on topic and contribute to the conversation in a meaningful way.
  • Do not use abusive or hateful language.
  • Do not spam or promote unrelated products or services.
  • Do not post any personal information or content that is illegal, obscene, or otherwise inappropriate.

We reserve the right to remove any comments that violate these rules. By commenting on our website, you agree to abide by these guidelines. Thank you for helping to create a positive and welcoming environment for all.

One Comment

  1. The map shown at the top of the article has the plant located in, practically, downtown Los Angeles.
    The actual location of the plant is many miles to the south, in San Diego County I believe, right next to an environmentally sensitive area, and right next to a very popular surfing beach.

Leave a Reply to Doc Hilliard Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *