The San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station, whose iconic coastal reactors powered Southern California for 45 years, is being closed down for good, the plant operator announced Friday.
The decision by Southern California Edison ends a 16-month effort to revive the crippled plant after a radiation leak uncovered the rapid degradation of recently replaced steam generators.
At least once a month someone in our office makes the trip up the 5 fwy to either go to Orange County or to surf Old Man’s or Tressles and we all have the same reaction when driving by the power plant, “what will happen when there is an earthquake?” We know what would happen due to Fukushima.
Soon it will be just another story we will tell our grandchildren! They will ask what was that? And we will tell them that “people” thought it was a good idea to build a nuclear power plant on a fault line; next to the ocean! Then we will tell them that many people in the community banded together and fought the utility company, and after many years the utility company finally gave up and the plant was closed for good. SCAS wants to thank all those citizens that fought for years for our safety, our environment, and our future.
What does that mean for the cost of electricity in the future? Well we can almost guarantee that prices will not go down. If you do not want politicians to start considering your backyard for a new power-plant do your part and make sure your home is as energy-efficiency as it can be.
This weekend take the time to go down to the beach, go to the desert, go to the lake (hey its San Diego we can do all 3); forget about all the global problems for this weekend and bask in the victory!!
Mounting outage and repair costs, combined with delays and doubts related to regulatory approval for restart plans, led the utility to cut its losses, executives said. The plant previously produced nearly one-fifth of the region’s power — enough to supply 1.4 million Southern California homes.
“We have concluded that the continuing uncertainty about when or if San Onofre might return to service was not good for our customers, our investors, or the need to plan for our region’s long-term electricity needs,” said Ted Craver, CEO of Edison International, the parent company of the plant operator.
Though the plant has been sidelined since Jan. 31, 2012, the final decision came as a surprise Friday morning to plant workers, activists who fought the plant and surfers riding the ocean waves within view of the reactor domes.
“It’s a relief,” said Kash Gupta, a San Clemente resident who lives within 15 miles of the plant. “When there is a defect, you don’t want the plant to restart unless they can fix it 100 percent.”
Read more at: http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2013/jun/08/tp-edison-gives-up-on-crippled-san-onofre-power/
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