Nuclear Plant Still Shut Down, Costs Mount

The San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station remains in shutdown mode and is producing no electricity. As crews are assessing and planning repairs to leaks at Unit 3 at the plant, the unplanned shutdown is costing Southern California Edison from $600,000 to $1 million per day.

The following is the text of an email to San Clemente Patch from Southern California Edison Spokesman Gil Alexander offering updates on the continuing repairs and inspections at the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station.

Both San Onofre generating units are in safe shut-down mode. Unit 2 was shut down Jan. 9 for a planned two-month maintenance, technology upgrade and refueling outage. Unit 3 was shut down Jan. 31 when a small water leak was detected.

The steam generator tube inspection process continues at Unit 3 to determine the source of the water leak.

The tube inspection process also continues at Unit 2 to verify preliminary findings made public last week by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

It , which makes steam to turn turbines that make the electricity. The heat exchanger tubes number in the thousands and are filled with super-heated, high-pressure, radioactive water.

A Nuclear Regulatory Commission showed wearing on the inside; two were shot, and almost 900 others had significant thinning.

The components are only one to two years old. Representatives from Mitsubishi, the manufacturer of the generators, are on site, and a spokesman from Mitsubishi issued a statement Monday saying they were available to assist plant workers.