Michael R. Blood reports that Federal regulators have closed a case that questioned whether Southern California Edison violated government rules when it installed faulty equipment at the now-closed San Onofre nuclear power plant.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission ruling Thursday concluded the issue is no longer relevant since the coastal reactors, located between Los Angeles and San Diego, are retired. In 2012, the environmental group Friends of the Earth asked the agency to review if majority owner Edison misled the NRC when it replaced steam generators in a $670 million overhaul in 2009 and 2010.
Mitsubishi disclosed that Edison had nearly doubled its damage claim to $7.57 billion in a proceeding before the International Chamber of Commerce. Mitsubishi said in a statement that its liability is limited to $137 million by contract, and that Edison claims are factually incorrect, legally unsound and inappropriate.
San Onofre was shut down in January 2012 after a small radiation leak led to the discovery of extensive damage to hundreds of tubes inside the virtually new generators.
The plant never produced electricity again. Edison closed San Onofre for good in 2013 amid a fight with environmentalists over whether the plant was too damaged to restart safely. William M. Dean, director of the Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation, wrote that because the plant is permanently closed, it is no longer necessary to rule on issues raised in the case, including whether Edison skirted rules when it installed the equipment.
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