US nuclear regulator to discuss San Onofre Unit 2 restart proposal

Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has decided to discuss the proposal of Southern California Edison (SCE) to restart San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station’s Unit 2.

The regulators will meet with representatives of SCE on 27 February 2013 to discuss the utility’s proposal at NRC’s One White Flint building in Rockville, Maryland.

The agency staff and the utility representatives will continue discussing restart proposal issues first raised at a meeting held on 18 December 2012, but will not make any decisions during the meet.

Since January 2012, the two reactors at the San Onofre plant have been closed down after a leak in a Unit 3 steam generator led to the discovery of unexpected wear in steam generators of both the reactors.

Located on the Pacific coast of California, the San Onofre nuclear power plant began operation in 1968. The station has 2,200MW of output, enough power to 1.4 million average Southern California homes.