NRC Blames Design Flaw for San Onofre Nuclear Leak

Correction: An earlier version of this story said the NRC meeting was Tuesday evening. It was held Monday.

It's official: Design flaws in San Onofre's "heavily modified" new steam generators caused excessive tube wear and a radioactive steam leak in January, NRC Regional Administrator Elmo Collins said Sunday in an interview with the Associated Press.

That conclusion dovetails with the analysis of a consultant hired by environmental group Friends of the Earth, which issued a report earlier this year blaming the problems on Southern California Edison's design changes.

The new design caused thousands of highly pressurized steam tubes inside the generator to vibrate against each other and against support structures, leading to abnormally

In related news, environmental groups plan to hold a press conference and protest before Monday's 6 p.m. on the issue in the San Juan Capistrano Community Center.

At 5 p.m., representatives will appear with from Fairewinds Associates, which was hired by Friends to analyze recent problems at the plant.

Also protesting will be members of and , which have spearheaded local efforts to shut down the plant.

At the meeting itself, NRC staffers will release preliminary findings about the cause of the January leak, and plant officials will offer a response.

A public comment and questioning period will follow.

The plant has been closed since January and will remain shut down at least through the summer.

Watch Patch.com late Tuesday night for photos, video and an incisive story from the meeting. Also look for Twitter updates from the meeting by following @ClementePatch; we'll use the hashtag #NRC to catalog the tweets.