Steam Generators

For more than eight months, ratepayers of Southern California Edison have been paying $54 million a month - a per-customer average of more than $10 - for a nuclear power plant that has been delivering no electricity. This situation should never have been allowed to drag on for so long. Part of that $10-a-month cost was imposed several years ago when Edison, the majority owner of the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station, purchased new steam generators for the plant. At that time, it sought and was granted a special rate increase to cover the $671-million cost, the argument being that ratepayers would benefit from safe, reliable electricity.

The operator of the troubled San Onofre nuclear plant might request a license amendment before restarting the plant through an expedited process that would not require public hearings before a restart. Southern California Edison said Friday that it has requested a meeting with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission to discuss the possible license amendment. The NRC has not yet responded. Also Friday, a special NRC panel heard arguments from Edison and Friends of the Earth, an environmental group that has pushed for the commission to require a license amendment with a full trial-like public hearing process before deciding whether to allow the plant to fire up again.

The cost of the long-running outage at the San Onofre nuclear plant now tops $300 million, but it remains unclear who will ultimately foot the bill. Edison International, the parent company of plant operator and majority owner Southern California Edison, reported its third quarter earnings Thursday, including new details on the costs of the plant's troubles. The company reported that inspection and repair costs relating to the outage totaled $96 million as of Sept. 30, and the costs of replacing the plant's power had risen to $221 million.

California's power grid was getting through its first major test of the summer amid a record-setting heat wave. But the continuing uncertainty over when the troubled San Onofre nuclear power plant will reopen has officials concerned about the coming months. Officials had scrambled to put a system in place to provide energy during peak summer months without San Onofre, which typically supplies about 20% of the power for large swaths of Southern California. The plant has been offline for more than six months because of problems with newly replaced steam generators.

The state Public Utilities Commission delayed a decision on a $56-million rate dispute Wednesday after one member lashed out angrily at a harshly worded staff report critical of Southern California Edison. "We're not here to play legal games," said commission member William Bagley, who suggested that the PUC's legal staff withdraw from a case in which it urged that Edison and San Diego Gas & Electric Co.

The California Public Utilities Commission is poised to open an investigation into the troubled San Onofre nuclear plant, a process that could result in ratepayers getting reduced utility bills in the future. Some Southern California Edison and San Diego Gas & Electric ratepayers have complained that it's unfair for them to be paying to operate a plant that is not functioning. Commissioners will vote next Thursday on a proposal to open an investigation into the unexpected outage at the plant, which by then will have stretched on for nearly nine months.

The extended closure of the San Onofre nuclear plant due to safety concerns has led some to speculate — or hope — that the plant will be shuttered for good, but the chief nuclear officer for plant operator Southern California Edison said he doesn't believe the problems signal the plant's demise. "There's nothing I'm aware of today that would make me conclude that," Southern California Edison Senior Vice President Pete Dietrich said in a telephone interview Monday, speaking to The Times for the first time since the plant was forced to close.

Re "PUC dithers as consumers keep paying for San Onofre," Column, Aug. 29 There is no "welfare" in the system governed by the California Public Utilities Commission that oversees the delivery of electricity to 12 million customers in California. Here's how it works: Southern California Edison, an investor-owned utility, is the majority owner of the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station. As a regulated utility, we receive cost reimbursement and a fair investment return over a long period of time on capital that shareholders and creditors advanced up front, as they did for the steam generators - all as part of the costs required to provide emission-free electricity for 1.4 million homes.

The operator of the troubled San Onofre nuclear plant might request a license amendment before restarting the plant through an expedited process that would not require public hearings before a restart. Southern California Edison said Friday that it has requested a meeting with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission to discuss the possible license amendment. The NRC has not yet responded. Also Friday, a special NRC panel heard arguments from Edison and Friends of the Earth, an environmental group that has pushed for the commission to require a license amendment with a full trial-like public hearing process before deciding whether to allow the plant to fire up again.

The troubles at the San Onofre nuclear power plant brought out hundreds of people Tuesday night for a forum held by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Plant workers and anti-nuclear activists formed warring cheering sections in a ballroom at the St. Regis Monarch Beach hotel in Dana Point as a panel of regulators, ratepayer advocates and residents of nearby communities fielded questions and debated the merits of restarting one of the plant's reactors. San Onofre, which once supplied power to about 1.4 million homes in Southern California, has been out of commission since Jan. 31, when a steam generator tube carrying radioactive water sprang a leak, releasing a minuscule amount of radioactive steam.