San Onofre is Dead and So Is Nuclear Power. The sun sets on San Onofre.
(Photo: dolanh/cc/flickr)From his California beach house at San Clemente, Richard Nixon once watched three reactors rise at nearby San Onofre. As of June 7, 2013, all three are permanently shut. It’s a monumental victory for grassroots activism. it marks an epic transition in how we get our energy. In the thick of the 1970s Arab oil embargo, Nixon said there’d be 1000 such reactors in the US by the year 2000. As of today, there are 100. Four have shut here this year. Just two of 54 reactors now operate in Japan, where Fukushima has joined Chernobyl and Three Mile Island in permanently scarring us all. Germany is shutting its entire fleet and switching to renewables. Cheap gas has undercut the short-term market for expensive electricity generated by obsolete coal and nuke burners. As of early this year, Southern California Edison's path to a re-start at San Onofre seemed as clear as any to be expected by a traditional atomic tyrannosaur.
San Onofre nuclear power plant to shut down. The company said that it could maintain power supplies for southern California, barring an unusually hot summer or fires that damage transmission lines. Edison chief executive Theodore F. Craver Jr. said he spoke to California Gov. Jerry Brown (D) on Friday morning about plans to ensure stability of the electrical grid. “This is very much part of the uncertainty we are talking about, and we are anxious to resolve going forward,” Craver said in a conference call with reporters. The closure of the plant comes three days after MidAmerican Energy, owned byBerkshire Hathaway, scrapped plans to build a small modular reactor in Iowa, while sticking with its plan to build up to 656 wind turbines in the state.
The new system, designed to last 20 years, failed in less than 2 after vibrations caused many of the 9,727 heavy alloy tubes in each steam generator to rub against one another. U.S. helicopters over Bay Area scanning for radiation. By Sean Maher and Lisa Krieger Contra Costa Times Posted: 08/27/2012 08:14:14 AM PDT0 Comments|Updated: about a year ago Helicopters will be flying low over San Francisco, Oakland, Berkeley and Pacifica through Saturday to record natural radiation levels, federal authorities said Monday.
Last of Japan's 50 reactors goes offline for checks. Technicians at Japan's last functioning nuclear power plant have begun shutting it down for checks in the wake of the Fukushima disaster, as public suspicion becomes more evident despite official warnings of summertime power shortages.
The shutdown, which involves inserting control rods into the number-three reactor at Tomari on the northern island of Hokkaido, is due to be completed by Sunday. To be fired up again, reactors must now pass International Atomic Energy Agency stress tests. Although Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda's announced two reactor restarts at the Ohi nuclear plant in central Japan in mid-April, local residents and administrations have blocked this using new consent procedures. Overall, no reactor stopped for maintenance has gone back up. Tomari's operator, Hokkaido Electric Powers, said on Saturday that the shutdown would take six hours.
Anti-nuclear protest in Tokyo Initially stunned, Japanese have become increasingly vocal. Greenpeace USA News & Blog. Seismic Activity and U.S. Nuclear Facilities. March 14, 2011 The map below depicts the locations of U.S. nuclear power facilities in gray, and locations of seismic activity in yellow. Data from the U.S. Geological Survey and the International Nuclear Safety Center. Following the devastation of last week’s 8.9 scale earthquake and tsunami, Japanese citizens face new realities and threats stemming from damage to nuclear power plant facilities. The quake damaged five nuclear reactors, three of which are facing potential meltdowns due to coolant loss. This catastrophe in Japan should serve as a lesson to the United States as well as Japan, argued Joe Romm, editor of Climate Progress, and CAPAF policy analyst Richard Caperton in this CNN article today. Nuke chief: wear differs in Onofre reactors.
Og=" xmlns=" lang="en" xml:lang="en"> The pattern of premature wear in steam generator tubes differs between the San Onofre nuclear plant's two reactors, the top U.S. nuclear official said after a tour of the plant Friday.
And attention is now focusing on the puzzling and "unique" pattern of wear in the reactor that was shut down Jan. 31 after a water leak caused a tiny release of radioactive gas. "At this point they have identified a type of wear in the Unit 3 steam generator that they haven't seen on the Unit 2 steam generator," Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chairman Gregory Jaczko told a group of reporters Friday after taking a tour of the plant. Jaczko, accompanied on the tour by Sen.
Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and Rep. Nuke Notes: NRC: No timetable for restart at San Onofre. NRC chief heads to troubled Cal nuke plant. NRC chairman to visit nuclear power plant. NRC chair to visit troubled California nuke plant. By MICHAEL R.
BLOOD The Nuclear Regulatory Commission announced Wednesday that its chairman will visit the ailing San Onofre nuclear power plant on the California coast, where twin reactors have been sidelined because of excessive wear in tubing that carries radioactive water. The visit by Chairman Gregory Jaczko underscores the agency's concern over the faulty equipment, which came to light in January when the Unit 3 reactor was shut down as a precaution after a tube break.
Traces of radiation escaped, but officials said there was no danger to workers or neighbors. Last week, the agency announced that the plant located between San Diego and Los Angeles will remain offline while investigators determine why tubing in its massive steam generators is eroding at an unusual rate and repair the problem. Operator Southern California Edison has said 321 tubes with excessive wear will be plugged and taken out of service at the two reactors, well within the margin to allow them to keep operating. New scrutiny for CA nuke plant, as restart looms. By MICHAEL R.
BLOOD, Associated Press LOS ANGELES (AP) — The idled San Onofre nuclear power plant is facing new scrutiny from Congress as the utility that operates it moves closer to proposing a fix to get the twin reactors back in service. Sen. Boxer seeks documents about San Onofre generator changes. Edison to brief Senate staff on San Onofre. NRC chairman to visit troubled San Onofre. Og=" xmlns=" lang="en" xml:lang="en"> The chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission will tour the stricken San Onofre nuclear plant on Friday, the latest sign of the seriousness with which the agency is taking steam-generator problems that are keeping both of the plant's reactors shut down.
The chairman, Gregory Jaczko, will tour the plant with California Sen. Dianne Feinstein, and talk to reporters afterward. "He wants to visit the plant and meet with managers and get the latest information on their inspection of the steam generators, and also to look at other vital plant equipment," NRC spokesman Victor Dricks said. "I understand he wants to look at the sea wall and the emergency diesel generators, and some of the improvements that have been made post-Fukushima. " Such plant visits are not unusual for Jaczko, Dricks said, adding that he makes frequent visits to the nation's nuclear plants.
But inspections revealed many steam-generator tubes with premature wear in Unit 3. Southern California heating up as public and utility head for face-off over repairs. A report authored by Fairewinds Associates warns that a more detailed study is needed on the alloy tubing in the plant’s steam generators before the twin reactors at San Onofre are restarted, according to The Associated Press.
The utility that runs California’s San Onofre nuclear plant misled federal regulators about equipment and design changes that are the likely cause of extensive wear on tubing that carries radioactive water, a report commissioned by an environmental group claimed Tuesday. A year ago, Southern California Edison announced the installation of four new steam generators at the San Onofre nuclear power plant, hailing it as a major boost to electricity production. The four generators, manufactured by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, were installed in 2010 and 2011. The Sandpiper. Nancy Fisher | 24th Street Cities within the 50-mile emergency planning zone (EPZ) of the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station.
Photo www.sanofresafety.org On February 8th, one week after a leak that might have caused a small amount of radioactive gas to escape into the atmosphere, Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Chairman of the Environment and Public Works Committee, added her voice to the growing number of California residents who are calling on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to review and report on safety conditions at the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station. 014-evacuationmap-big.jpg (JPEG Image, 1200 × 1047 pixels) - Scaled (70%) Google Image Result for. Erich Pica: San Onofre: We Can't Ignore the Warning Signs. Growing up, I used to race my station wagon down country roads, pushing the limits of the engine, my safety and bystanders' safety on the road beyond reason.
It was stupid. Fortunately, I learned several lessons about a car's engine. PROTESTERS TO CALL FOR SHUT-DOWN OF SAN ONOFRE AT SEMPRA HEADQUARTERS AFTER SENATOR WARNS OF FUKUSHIMA THREAT TO U.S. Printer-friendly version “The radiation caused by the failure of the spent fuel pools in the event of another earthquake could reach the West Coast within days. That absolutely makes the safe containment and protection of this spent fuel a security issue for the United States.” Jet. "Nothing like this has ever been attempted" -- Yale Professor: "All of humanity will be threatened for 1000s of years" if rods in Unit 4 pool touch and have nuclear reaction during removal process -- Tepco: "Not clear" if fuel is already damaged. An ocean current called the North Pacific Gyre is bringing Japanese radiation to the West Coast of North America: While many people assume that the ocean will dilute the Fukushima radiation, a previously-secret 1955 U. S. government report concluded that the ocean may not adequately dilute radiation from nuclear accidents, and there could be "pockets" and "streams" of highly-concentrated radiation.
Nuclear Fallout - Map of U.S. Nuclear Power Plants. Why U.S. nuclear power plants are vulnerable to severe accident with nuclear fallout A future severe nuclear accident at a U.S. nuclear power plant is a real possibility. In 2011 five nuclear power plants in the United States lost primary power due to earthquake or extreme weather events, including tornados, hurricanes, and flooding. Fortunately backup power systems kicked in at these plants and a disaster was averted. San Onofre Power Plant Plans To Go Back Online.