Damage to tubes that carry radio active water through steam generators at the San Onfre Nuclear Power Plant have kept the plant offline since January. Now, Southern California Edison says layoffs are coming because the reduction of employees to 1,500 will reduce operating costs while regulators consider the viability of the plant. Nuclear containment expert and SDSU professor Murray Jennex tells KPBS' Evening Edition about staffing at nuclear facilities.
We take a look at recent layoffs at San Onofre and discuss the future of the idle nuclear power plant.
GUEST:Murray Jennex, SDSU professor, who once worked at San Onofre.
Almost one-third of the workforce at San Onofre Nuclear power plant has been laid off. More than 700 employees are part of the planned reduction in staff. As part of the layoff announcement, Southern California Edison stated that that their troubled Unit 3 reactor - off-line since a small radiation leak in January - will "not be operating for some time." Both the layoffs and the admission of Unit 3's uncertain status raise new questions about the nuclear plant's future.
