KPBS Midday Edition

Southern California Edison Releases Data On Faulty Steam Generators At San Onofre

By Maureen Cavanaugh / KPBS Midday Edition Co-Host, Peggy Pico / KPBS Evening Edition Host, Patty Lane / Producer, Amita Sharma / Investigative Reporter

Published July 13, 2012 at 1:28 PM PDT

This story was published more than 12 years ago.

Murray Jennex, San Onofre

Tube Wear Inside Steam Generators at San Onofre nuclear power plant.

GUESTS:Victor Dricks, NRC spokesman Murray Jennex, has worked at San Onofre and Associate Professor at SDSU's College of Business Administration Arnie Gunderson, nuclear consultant, wrote report for Friends of the Earth environmental group

Arnie Gunderson, San Onofre

Southern California Edison today released data on its newly installed steam generator tubes. It showed most of the tubes that were repaired were below the wall-thinning limit.

San Onofre was shut down in January after the discovery of a break in a tube that carries radioactive water. Edison has repaired 1317 tubes. The company now says that only 387 of the repaired or plugged tubes showed wear of more than 35 percent, which is the point at which a tube must be taken out of service and fixed.

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But nuclear consultant Arnie Gundersen said Edison is carefully parsing its words.

He says regulations require an operator to replace tubes that are projected to hit that 35 percent threshold before the next time they’re checked.

“So their wording is disingenuous. A 20 percent wear on the tube means that it will be at 40 percent the next time you look at it and you have to replace that tube," Gundersen said.

Edison’s chief nuclear officer Pete Dietrich said the company is using the data collected through testing to develop repair plans.

“Safety continues to be the guiding principle behind all the work we are doing," Dietrich said.

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Edison released the data one day after an environmental group issued a report calling San Onofre’s new steam generators the worst in the country.

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Maureen Cavanaugh

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Maureen Cavanaugh has been a familiar voice for KPBS listeners for more than 15 years, serving in a variety of capacities including announcer, host, and producer. As host of KPBS Midday Edition, Maureen has interviewed a wide range of notables, such as comedienne Sandra Bernhardt, actor John Lequizamo, author Chuck Palahniuk, composer Marvin Hamlisch, artist Robert Irwin, and designer Zandra Rhodes. But of all the interviews Maureen has conducted, her most special was with His Holiness, the Dalai Lama. Before joining KPBS in 1997, she worked as a news anchor for KSDO and KOGO News Radio in San Diego. While working for commercial radio stations in San Diego and in Salt Lake City, Utah, Maureen reported on both hard news and lifestyle features. Maureen has received three "Golden Mike" awards from the Radio and TV News Association of Southern California for economic reporting and breaking news. She has also received a "Best of Show" and “Best Radio Newscast” awards from the San Diego Press Club and the "Flo" Award from Public Radio Program Directors Association for Best Public Radio Announcer in a large market. Maureen is a native of Queens, New York, but after more than 20 years in San Diego she feels she qualifies as a real Southern Californian.

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Peggy Pico

Peggy Pico served as the host of KPBS Evening Edition. Pico originally joined the KPBS newsroom as the science and technology reporter in 2010 after spending two years covering biotechnology and medical news in the Bay Area. Pico was raised in San Diego and has worked as a broadcast journalist in California, Arizona, and Texas. She previously reported for NBC 7/39 where she worked as a medical and science reporter for five years. Pico has won two Emmy’s and numerous awards from the Society of Professional Journalists, Associated Press, and the San Diego Press Club. She also received the USC Health Reporter Fellowship and is a member of California Chicano News Media Association and the Association of Health Care Journalists.

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Amita Sharma

As an investigative reporter for KPBS, I've helped expose political scandals and dug into intractable issues like sex trafficking. I've raised tough questions about how government treats foster kids. I've spotlighted the problem of pollution in poor neighborhoods. And I've chronicled corporate mistakes and how the public sometimes ends up paying for them.

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