LOS ANGELES -- Federal regulators have closed a case that questioned whether Southern California Edison violated government rules when it installed faulty equipment at the now-closed San Onofre nuclear power plant.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission ruling Thursday concluded the issue is no longer relevant since the coastal reactors, located between Los Angeles and San Diego, are retired.
In 2012, the environmental group Friends of the Earth asked the agency to review if majority owner Edison misled the nuclear agency when it replaced steam generators in a $670 million overhaul in 2009 and 2010.
The group argued that a series of equipment and design changes to the generators created a significant risk of mechanical problems. It said the company never disclosed the modifications, instead describing it as an exchange of similar equipment.
San Onofre was shut down in January 2012 after a small radiation leak led to the discovery of extensive damage to hundreds of tubes inside the virtually new generators.
The plant never produced electricity again. Edison closed San Onofre for good in 2013 amid a fight with environmentalists over whether the plant was too damaged to restart safely.
Business on 08/01/2015