SCE Responds to Initial NRC Report About Unit 3 Shutdown

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.

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.