The San Onofre nuclear power reactor was shut down in 2013 following the discovery of cracks in 2012 of some of the piping two years after a major maintenance overhaul. South California Edison which operated the plant had ordered new steam generators from Mitsubishi Heavy Industries back in the early 2000s. When the generators were installed, design flaws resulted in cracking and leaking pipes at the plant.
It turned out that SCE had submitted statements to the NRC that the new generators were being constructed according to the original designs and no significant changes had been made. In reality, they had made significant changes. MHI notified SCE that the changes that had been requested might cause problems with plant operations but SCE told them to go ahead with the new design. Two years after the refit in 2010, problems appeared at the power plant.
A 2004 letter from SCE to MHI was made public in 2013. It stated that SCE understood that there could be disastrous outcomes at the plant with the new generator design. If they had been honest about their design changes, there would have had to be a reevaluation of the seismic safety of the new design and this would have cost SCE more than they were apparently willing to pay. Both companies filed lawsuits against each other.
Environmental groups filed a request for an investigation by the NRC on the improper behavior and violation of regulations by SCE. Preliminary results of the investigation concluded that SCE was at fault for keeping their design changes secret. Mired in lawsuits and federal investigations, SCE decided that it would be too expensive to replace the faulty steam generators and the nuclear power reactors was permanently shut down.
The NRC has just announced that it will no longer pursue its investigations of improprieties and responsibilities at San Onofre. The excuse given for dropping the investigation was that since the plant was now permanently closed, there was no purpose in continuing to investigate. The environmental groups that had called for the investigation were not happy with the decision.
The whole situation at San Onofre demonstrates the tendency of corporations operating nuclear power plants to ignore regulations, lie to regulators, order new equipment even after being warned by the manufacture that it could cause "disastrous consequences," and, when challenged, to blame someone else. In the case of San Onofre, SCE claimed that the problems were caused by MHI not warning them about possible problems with the new equipment. This level of corporate irresponsibility is all too common with nuclear power plant manufacturers and operators.
The NRC is far too cozy with the U.S. nuclear industry that it is supposed to be policing. They will sometimes weaken important safety regulations at the request of nuclear power plant operators. They will overlook obvious and deliberate violation of regulations on the part of the nuclear industry. They will fail to implement regulations that are on the books. And now, they are dropping their investigation at San Onofre.
There is a great deal of cheerleading these days for new reactors designs that are supposed to be cheaper, more reliable and safer than the fleet of reactors currently operating. The nuclear power supporters are silent on the issue of corporate misbehavior and regulatory incompetence although these two issue virtually guarantee that there will be major nuclear accidents in the future.
San Onofre Nuclear Power Station:
