SAN ONOFRE: CBG Study Shows Safety of Restarting Either Unit 2 or 3 is Questionable

In a report released today, CBG conducted an exhaustive analysis of data from nuclear plants nationwide.  After analyzing the data, it became stunningly clear that San Onofre’s Unit 2 reactor has about 400 times as many damaged steam generator tubes as the median number at comparable plants over the same operational period, and Unit 3 has more than 450 times as many.  Each San Onofre reactor has greater than a thousand times as many indications of wear on the tubes than the typical reactor in its first cycle of operation.  And each San Onofre unit has had to plug more tubes than all replacement steam generators nationwide combined.

“San Onofre Unit 2 and 3 are both very ill nuclear plants.  They are far, far outside the norm of national experience,” writes Daniel Hirsch, report co-author.  “Restarting either San Onofre reactor with crippled steam generators that have not been repaired or replaced would be a questionable undertaking at best.”  Hirsch is President of the Committee to Bridge the Gap.

Click here to download the report.

Click here for the press release.