Posted on 06/08/2012 7:27:27 AM PDT by BenLurkin
Southern California utility officials are warning that blackouts in the region are possible this summer as a result of the sidelined San Onofre nuclear power plant.
The damaged plant is likely to remain sidelined until at least the end of August while investigators probe excessive wear in tubing that carries radioactive water, the plant's operator said Thursday.
The officials say that if a heat wave hits while the twin-reactor plant is offline, rotating blackouts are a possibility. Utilities have been scrambling to find replacement power as a precaution, including restarting two retired natural gas-fired plants in Orange County.
Edison spokeswoman Jennifer Manfre said it's likely the plant between San Diego and Los Angeles will remain shuttered at least through August.
The trouble began to unfold in January, when the Unit 3 reactor was shut down as a precaution after a tube break. Traces of radiation escaped at the time, but officials said there was no danger to workers or neighbors. Unit 2 had been taken offline earlier that month for maintenance, but investigators later found unexpected wear on hundreds of tubes in both units.
Edison initially targeted a June restart for at least one of the twin reactors. A tentative plan called for restarting and running the seaside reactors at lower power, at least for several months, because engineers believe that will ease vibration that could be eroding tubes.
The NRC has said there is no timetable to restart the reactors, which were replaced in 2009 and 2010 in a $670 million overhaul.
About 7.4 million Californians live within 50 miles of San Onofre, which can power 1.4 million homes.
Safety issues at the plant have attracted congressional scrutiny, and some officials in nearby communities have been calling for San Onofre to shut down permanently.
(Excerpt) Read more at chron.com ...
Rotating blackouts in Southern California in August? The police will be busy.
Completely impossible - Solar & Wind will save the day!
This is unacceptable in the 21st century...
But, but with all these green energy plants built, I thought that our power needs were dealt with! Aren’t we saving enough with the incandescent bulbs banned???
Yet another failure in green energy.
The lefties will be happy until they’re chokin’ in the heat.
California continues it’s slide into Third World communist police state.
Black is the new gray.
A balanced, accurate and informative article about SONGS-2/3.
In the past Westinghouse built steam generators in Pensacola, FL. That plant was closed long ago. Now the equipment has to be sourced from overseas. I’m curious what tube material they used.
Supposedly water chemistry porblems were the cause of the original steam generator tube failures. That’s been known for quite a while. It’ll be interesting to find out what happened at San Onofre this time around.
Exactly, with all the solar panels and wind mills out in the desert, we should be able to sustain this with ease... Maybe Obama will come out and campaign during a brown out, and tell every one how great green energy is...
Down with electricity! If you can't see the stuff, you don't need it!
I agree. The greenies should be forced to give up the use of all electricity created using nuclear energy, petroleum products, coal, and hydro - regardless of where the electricity is generated. And wind because the windmill farms kill birds. And solar because it creates micro environmental changes.
So the State will shut off our power, in the meantime they are releasing thousands and thousands of convicts, unsupervised, no parole, into the general public on a weekly basis and then they make it a Felony to just about even Own a Gun let alone use it, thereby guaranteeing your ARREST and prosecution for Daring to Defend Yourself. One seriously F**ked Up State
California keeps losing capacity and the green folks may turn a brown out brown.
Oh not to worry.. Our fine esteemed politicos fixed our energy crisis years ago.. They ENRON-ified us from future blackouts..
Ya get what ya vote for, California.. Crap!
I had forgotten about that aspect. Maybe the moral of the story is “Be careful what you wish for.”
Calling ENRON...
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