The Nuclear Regulatory Commission will hold a public meeting next week to provide an update on what their inspectors have observed at the San Onofre nuclear power plant.
The meeting will be the first of a series of meetings the NRC will hold to keep the public updated on their oversight activities at San Onofre.
The plant has been shut down since January because of leaks in the steam generator tubes, and the company says it will not bring the plant back on line before late summer.
NRC spokesman Victor Dricks said the agency's report is not yet been written, but the meeting is a chance to let the public know the findings.
“The first part of the meeting will be a kind of technical presentation between the NRC and the staff of Southern California Edison,” he said. "Then we’re going to take a break and after that, the public will have an opportunity to ask any questions or make any statements about any San Onofre related issues.“
The NRC has said it may have to review its procedures for approving steam generator replacement at nuclear power plants, in view of the problems that have emerged at San Onofre.
Edison presented its plans to the NRC as being a 'like for like" replacement of the old steam generators, thus avoiding a re-licensing process. However it appears that design differences may have caused premature wear in the tubes which carry radioactive water through the steam generators.
The cost to replace the generators was close to $700 million, a bill footed by the ratepayers. Edison says it does not plan to apply to the NRC for authorization to restart Unit 2 until later this summer. The plant provides 20 percet of the electricity to Southern California, and power shortages may be on the horizon during the period of peak summer demand.
The meeting, on Monday June 18th, in San Juan Capistrano Community Center is scheduled to last three hours, and starts at 6 p.m.
