Plant Status -

Unit 2 Currently offline for planned outage.

Unit 3 Currently offline.

SCE Responds to Initial NRC Report About Unit 3 Shutdown

Posted February 17, 2012 - 5:45 p.m. PDT

On January 31, a leak was detected in one of Southern California Edison's (SCE) San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station's (SONGS) Unit 3 steam generator tubes. The unit was safely and conservatively taken offline. Extensive testing is underway to fully understand the cause of the leak. As soon as the issue is understood, plant operators will implement a repair plan and return the unit to safe and reliable operation.

SCE will cooperate fully with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's (NRC) follow-up baseline inspection as part of their independent oversight of our activities and response to the tube leak.

The radioactivity released to atmosphere during the steam generator tube leak was barely measurable – 4E-5 millirems or 0.00004 millirems -- which is 200 times less than you would receive by having a smoke detector in your home for a year. This updates our initial estimate of 7E-7 millirems or 0.0000007 millirems that we provided to the NRC.

SCE continues its testing and inspection of all 19, 454 Unit 3 steam generator tubes and will conduct a thorough assessment of test data with the help of industry experts and the manufacturer.

SCE is committed to the safe operation of the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station and will not return the unit to service until the company and the NRC are satisfied it is completely safe to do so.

Nuclear Energy Institute Comments on Leak and Shutdown of Reactor Unit

Posted February 2, 2012 - 9:30 a.m. PDT

The Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) today commented on the situation at the San Onofre Generating Station indicating that it is a pretty typical operational event. You can read their comments here.

NEI is the policy organization of the nuclear energy and technologies industry and participates in both the national and global policy-making process. NEI’s objective is to ensure the formation of policies that promote the beneficial uses of nuclear energy and technologies in the United States and around the world.

San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station Operators Assessing Leak and Shutdown of Reactor Unit

Posted February 1, 2012 - 6:00 p.m. PDT

ROSEMEAD, Calif., Feb. 1, 2012 – Southern California Edison (SCE), operator of the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station, continues to plan for the repair of the steam generator tube leak in Unit 3 following a precautionary shutdown Tuesday. Sensitive monitoring instruments at Unit 3 continue to show no change in radiation levels that would be detectable off-site.

Operators responded quickly yesterday to indications of a steam generator tube leak based on readings from highly sensitive instruments designed to detect this condition, and in time to take action to prevent any potential change in detectable radiation exposure outside the plant boundary. Operators safely shut the plant down and isolated the component that contained the leaking tube within four hours of detecting the indications.

Currently, operators are cooling down Unit 3 and reducing pressure in the plant, which is the method to stop the tube from leaking. They are meticulously following prescribed procedures written specifically for addressing a tube leak condition.

"There was no threat then, nor is there now any danger to the public or to plant workers," said Pete Dietrich, senior vice president and Chief Nuclear Officer for Southern California Edison. "Our operators performed exactly as they are trained to perform and took prompt action to ensure we did not create a situation involving any challenge to the health and safety of the public," Dietrich said.

Unit 2 is currently offline for a planned maintenance, refueling and technology upgrade outage. Service will not be affected; Southern California Edison has ample reserve power to meet customer needs.

About Southern California Edison

An Edison International (NYSE:EIX) company, Southern California Edison is one of the nation’s largest electric utilities, serving a population of nearly 14 million via 4.9 million customer accounts in a 50,000-square-mile service area within Central, Coastal and Southern California.

San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station Operators Perform Precautionary Shutdown of Reactor Unit

ROSEMEAD, Calif., Jan. 31, 2012 – Southern California Edison (SCE), operator of the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station, has begun a precautionary shutdown of Unit 3 because sensors installed for this purpose detected a possible leak in one of the unit’s steam generator tubes.

The potential leak poses no imminent danger to the public or plant workers. There has been no release to the atmosphere. San Onofre personnel will evaluate the cause of the leak and the steps required to repair it and resume operations.

Unit 2 is currently offline for a planned maintenance, refueling and technology upgrade outage. Southern California Edison has ample reserve power to meet customer needs while Unit 3 is offline.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission was immediately informed of this development.

About Southern California Edison

An Edison International (NYSE:EIX) company, Southern California Edison is one of the nation’s largest electric utilities, serving a population of nearly 14 million via 4.9 million customer accounts in a 50,000-square-mile service area within Central, Coastal and Southern California.

SONGS to Upgrade Key Components of Unit 2 During Planned Outage

Posted January 10, 2012 - 5:00 a.m. PDT

Southern California Edison (SCE) temporarily removed from service yesterday one of the two large generating units at its San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station – Unit 2 – for a scheduled refueling and maintenance outage. During the outage SCE will continue its practice of upgrading plant hardware and systems when it is possible to enhance the safety, reliability or customer cost-effectiveness of the plant.

Plans for the outage, and a similar Unit 3 outage scheduled for this fall, include replacing the reactor heads of both units and retrofitting the high pressure turbines with new rotating and static components.

"Key San Onofre plant systems and components, originally installed 30 years ago, have been continually upgraded with the newest technologies to ensure safe, reliable operations," said Chief Nuclear Officer Pete Dietrich. "For example, the plant’s largest components – steam generators – are just two years old and represent the safest, most efficient 21st century machinery. And many of the plant’s original analog control systems have been upgraded to smart digital technologies."

The new high-pressure turbine components SONGS plans to install during 2012 will increase the plant’s efficiency and generating capacity. The design and construction of the new reactor heads, including the use of "single forge" manufacturing that features fewer welds, will be even safer, while reducing customer costs by shortening maintenance outages.

The planned upgrades will cost approximately $280 million—roughly 0.5 percent of current customer rates—and will have a net positive economic benefit for customers during the current license period.

"We put a premium on safety and construction excellence in all aspects of design and installation of these new reactor heads and high-pressure turbines," said Jorge Morales, senior engineer at the plant.