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The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission is conducting a special inspection at the San Onofre nuclear plant in response to problems discovered with several electrical connections affecting plant safety systems. The plant, located near San Clemente, Ca., is operated by Southern California Edison Co. Following an incident in which maintenance personnel discovered a loose electrical connection on an emergency battery that rendered it inoperable, NRC inspectors identified similar problems that had occurred since 2005. These problems with electrical connections had affected the operability of an emergency diesel generator and batteries that are used to supply power during some accident conditions.

Faced with a paper trail of minor maintenance problems and mounting pressure from regulators, Southern California Edison has changed maintenance contractors at the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station. Gil Alexander, a spokesman for Southern California Edison, the plant's majority owner and operator, said Friday that the company has hired Louisiana-based Shaw Industries to conduct all maintenance operations at the seaside plant. Since 1994 that work had been done by multinational Bechtel Inc., which also helped build the plant's atom splitters in the late 1980s. Shaw also performs maintenance activities at 36 of the nation's 104 operating nuclear power plants. A division of Bechtel has been working for years on an $800 million project to replace steam generators inside both of San Onofre's concrete containment domes. Alexander said the company will continue to work on that project.

San DiegoCounty is known as a nuclear community in Sacramento. Personally I don't like the name, but it is what it is. Knowing that San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS) is an aging reactor we should take some precautionary measures to protect our families the best we can if there is an accident during the new steam generator installations. We as a community should also be ready if the electricity we get from SONGS is interrupted for an unknown time because of a workplace mistake. According to a little survey of 1200 San Diego residents; two-thirds of them feel it is highly likely they will be affected by a major disaster. Here are some suggestions to minimize radiation exposure.

One San Clemente resident wanted to know how area schoolchildren would be evacuated in case of an emergency at the San Onofre nuclear plant.

After protests, NRC agrees to reschedule hearing slated for point equidistant - and far - from Diablo Canyon and San Onofre plants Bowing to local pressure, the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission has agreed to reschedule a hearing to take public comment on generic rules governing the renewal of nuclear power plant licenses. The meeting had been set for Tuesday evening in Westlake Village, a Los Angeles County town near Thousand Oaks. However, local elected officials and activists argued that San Luis Obispo County residents were unlikely to attend a meeting held about 160 miles away. The agency has agreed to postpone the hearing to an undetermined later date and location, said Roger Hannah, NRC spokesman.

"Several dozen residents Tuesday urged the San Clemente City Council to adopt an official resolution calling for the shutdown of San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station, among other measures. "We should learn from the mistakes of others so we don't repeat them," said Karen Tanner of Capistrano Beach. She spoke on behalf of the Orange County Interfaith Coalition for the Environment. The anti-nuclear power sentiment has been inflamed since the earthquake, tsunami and subsequent nuclear disaster in Fukushima, Japan earlier this spring."

Inspections are being ramped up at a California nuclear plant where a battery that powered safety systems didn't work for four years. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission said Monday that the problem at the San Onofre plant stemmed from poor maintenance. Regional administrator Elmo Collins says the lapse is troubling because it persisted for so long. It was inoperable from 2004 to 2008. The problem was discovered in March.

Members of the state's main energy policy and planning agency spoke out against the decision by Pacific Gas and Electric Co. to apply to renew the company's operating license for the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant before addressing their concerns. The topic came up at a Dec. 16 California Energy Commission (CEC) hearing in Sacramento for the adoption of he 2009 Integrated Energy Policy Report, which outlines and analyzes energy-related issues affecting the state. CEC Vice Chair James Boyd chastised PG&E and contrasted their behavior with that of Southern California Edison Co., which operates the nuclear generating station in San Onofre. "I'm very disappointed … with what PG&E has done," CEC Vice Chair James Boyd said at the hearing. "I think now it's time to single out Edison for their statement of wanting to collaborate and cooperate on all the commitments while another utility has chosen to … kind of go around behind us. "I can't speak for Commissioner [Jeffrey] Byron, but I for one know there was great disappointment with that action," Boyd said. "But we'll address it in due time."

Members of the state's main energy policy and planning agency spoke out against the decision by Pacific Gas and Electric Co. to apply to renew the company's operating license for the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant before addressing their concerns. The topic came up at a Dec. 16 California Energy Commission (CEC) hearing in Sacramento for the adoption of he 2009 Integrated Energy Policy Report, which outlines and analyzes energy-related issues affecting the state. CEC Vice Chair James Boyd chastised PG&E and contrasted their behavior with that of Southern California Edison Co., which operates the nuclear generating station in San Onofre. "I'm very disappointed … with what PG&E has done," CEC Vice Chair James Boyd said at the hearing. "I think now it's time to single out Edison for their statement of wanting to collaborate and cooperate on all the commitments while another utility has chosen to … kind of go around behind us. "I can't speak for Commissioner [Jeffrey] Byron, but I for one know there was great disappointment with that action," Boyd said. "But we'll address it in due time."

"State considers whether cooling systems that harm environment should be phased out New state rules would require that the cooling system used at Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant be phased out within the next 15 years, but would allow plant managers to apply for alternatives that reduce cost. The goal of the rules is to eliminate the method known as once-through cooling, which uses billions of gallons of ocean water daily to cool electrical steam generators. State water officials consider once-through cooling used by 19 coastal power plants to be too damaging to the ocean environment. "Ultimately, once-through cooling has got to go," said Dave Clegern, spokesman for the State Water Resources Control Board. The rules would allow Diablo Canyon, owned by Pacific Gas and Electric Co., and a nuclear plant at San Onofre to apply for less stringent requirements to offset the damage of their cooling systems if eliminating once-through cooling is determined to be "wholly out of proportion to the cost.""

Earlier this month, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission held a hearing in Dana Point regarding the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station, commonly known as SONGS. At the hearing, Southern California Edison claimed it is doing everything necessary to fix the "culture of cover-up" that exists - ahem, pardon me - existed at the plant. But in reality, firing about 70 percent of the staff did not fix it, and nor has anything else. Not only does that culture of cover-up still exist, but actually, it is a necessary component of the operation in the eyes of everyone who works there. Because they'll get in trouble if the media or the public find out what leaks, what cracks, what drops, what bursts, what spills, who gets contaminated, or by how much. Especially when it's you getting contaminated - they don't want to tell you that. Nor do the so-called "regulators."

Earlier this month, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission held a hearing in Dana Point regarding the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station, commonly known as SONGS. At the hearing, Southern California Edison claimed it is doing everything necessary to fix the "culture of cover-up" that exists - ahem, pardon me - existed at the plant. But in reality, firing about 70 percent of the staff did not fix it, and nor has anything else. Not only does that culture of cover-up still exist, but actually, it is a necessary component of the operation in the eyes of everyone who works there. Because they'll get in trouble if the media or the public find out what leaks, what cracks, what drops, what bursts, what spills, who gets contaminated, or by how much. Especially when it's you getting contaminated - they don't want to tell you that. Nor do the so-called "regulators."

A new, $64 million study of earthquake fault patterns around the San Onofre nuclear plant will be proposed Friday by Southern California Edison, its scope broadened and its cost estimate more than doubled because of the nuclear disaster in Japan. Edison will propose the study to the California Energy Commission; if approved, it would be paid for through customer rates, although Edison says that would add up to less than one percent of present overall rates. ADVERTISEMENT More from Science Rocket launched from Vandenberg Sunnier skies kick off warming spell Toxic mystery unfolds in Newport Beach The study will use state-of-the-art technology, characterizing in three dimensional detail the sea floor near the coastal plant and the geological picture beneath the land surface. Edison is still evaluating what type of technology to use, but sonar would likely be used to map the ocean floor near the nuclear plant, while seismic vibration measurements as well as lidar, which uses light beamed from planes, would be used on land.

* Rules to force closure, changes at 19 power plants * Compliance dates stretch past 2020 for nuclear plants HOUSTON, May 5 (Reuters) - California water resource regulators, seeking to protect marine life, approved a policy late Tuesday that will force closure or costly changes at 19 coastal power plants that now use ocean water to cool equipment. The policy affects power plants totaling 23,000 megawatts, or more than a third of the installed capacity in the state, including California's two nuclear stations, Southern California Edison's (EIX.N) 2,150-megawatt San Onofre nuclear station near San Diego and PG&E Corp's (PCG.N) 2,240-MW Diablo Canyon station north of Los Angeles. The contentious policy to replace "once-through cooling systems" has been under development for about five years. It involved input from state environmental and power-related agencies, consumer groups opposed to local plants and marine protection groups."

"It will take another three years for state water officials to determine whether nuclear power plants like the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station are required to install dozens of cooling towers so as to avoid using ocean water for cooling. Following an all-day hearing Tuesday, board members with the state Water Quality Control Board unanimously passed new regulations for the state's 19 coastal power plants. The regulations require plants using ocean water for cooling to reduce their intake by more than 90 percent in order to dramatically reduce the amount of fish and fish eggs that are taken from the Pacific Ocean and killed in the process of generating electricity. However, reducing water intake requires the use of evaporative cooling towers that expose hot water to cool air in a continuous loop. Closed cooling tower systems are estimated to use only about 5 percent as much water at the "once through" systems currently used by most plants."

The California Energy Commission on Nov. 20 adopted a report warning that the state's two nuclear plants may be required to conduct more than $5.6 billion worth of cooling system retrofits if another state agency adopts regulations to outlaw the "once-through" cooling systems both plants use. "A restriction on the use of once-through cooling in California is likely to be implemented in the future," the report said. "If the [State Water Resources Control Board] preliminary draft policy is adopted, Diablo Canyon and [San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station] would need to either adopt closed-cycle cooling systems or reduce the negative effects of their once-through cooling systems to a level comparable to the effects of a closed-cycle system."

Thousands of articles appeared within hours of the July 28th Chino Hills quake. Hundreds of those articles cited the quake's proximity to the San Onofre Nuclear Plant. Hundreds also cited the loss of cell phone availability. Had the quake resulted in damage to the nuclear facility emergency planning would have been seriously hampered.