California Plant Owners Were Aware Of Mechanical Issues, Lawmakers Say

[HuffingtonPost]

By Nichola Groom                

LOS ANGELES, Feb 6 (Reuters) - The owner of a shuttered  Southern California nuclear power plant was aware of problems  with its new steam generators before they were installed, two  lawmakers said on Wednesday, citing a report by the maker of the  equipment.                

In a letter to U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chairman  Allison Macfarlane, Senator Barbara Boxer and Representative  Edward Markey said a 2012 document by Mitsubishi Heavy  Industries Ltd, maker of the San Onofre power plant's  steam generators, found that some safety modifications were  rejected by both Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and plant owner  Southern California Edison due to "unacceptable consequences."                

The potential changes may have raised the possibility that  the plant would need to seek a license amendment because of  changes to the steam generators' design, the lawmakers said the  report showed.                

"SCE is fully cooperating with the NRC review process and is  complying with all requests for information and documents  related to the company's San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station,"  Southern California Edison spokeswoman Jennifer Manfre said in  an emailed statement. "SCE leadership takes very seriously all  allegations raised by the letter."                

In the letter, the lawmakers said the report also showed  that Edison's and Mitsubishi's decision to reject those  modifications contributed to problems with the faulty steam  generators and the shutdown of two nuclear reactors at the San  Onofre nuclear power plant.                

"This newly obtained information concerns us greatly," Boxer  and Markey wrote in the letter.                

The report is confidential and Reuters was not able to  review it.                

"All design decisions for the steam generators were made in  accordance with well-established and accepted industry standards  and practices, along with our own and third-party operating data  and experience," Mitsubishi Heavy Industries said in a statement  issued to Reuters.                

Both reactors at the 2,150-megawatt San Onofre plant have  been shut down for more than a year due to tube wear problems in  the units' new steam generators. Mitsubishi Heavy built the  generators and installed them in 2010 and 2011.                

The Japanese company said it has been cooperating with the  utility and the NRC in investigations since the shutdown of the  steam generators.                

The NRC is reviewing Southern California Edison's plan to  restart one of those units. Southern California Edison is a unit  of Edison International.                

"We have received the letter from Senator Boxer and  Congressman Markey and will respond in the normal course of  business," NRC spokesman Victor Dricks said in an email. "As an  independent safety agency, we will review all available  information in making a judgment as to whether the plant would  meet our safety standards if restart were permitted."                

San Onofre sits on the California coast halfway between Los  Angeles and San Diego. It is the largest power plant in Southern  California.

Via: HuffingtonPost