KPBS Special Coverage: Trouble At San Onofre

A nuclear reactor at San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station remained off-line today due to an equipment problem that sent a small, non-hazardous amount of radioactive gas into an auxiliary building and possibly into the atmosphere, authorities said.

Hopes that problems at San Onofre’s Unit 2 reactor might be less serious than those at Unit 3 are now fading. California’s energy agencies are gearing up efforts to get substitute power from decommissioned power plants.

A new report introduced to a U.S. Senate committee contends the steam generators at San Onofre are in much worse shape than publicly acknowledged. This comes just weeks before Southern California Edison, which runs the plant, is expected to submit a letter to federal regulators outlining the root causes of the tube failure.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission rejected a petition from Friends of the Earth asking for a license amendment for San Onofre before considering a plan to restart the troubled plant.

Almost one year since the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station was abruptly shut down due to a unexpected equipment problems, the discussion continues over Southern California Edison's proposal to partially restart the plant.

Southern California Edison announces it is retiring the remaining reactors at the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station. Decommissioning the plant will take 40 years and cost 1,100 jobs.

The Carlsbad City Council has signed off on an agreement for a new gas-powered “peaker” plant.

State public utilities officials have unanimously approved a previously rejected natural gas power plant in Otay Mesa.

California regulators Thursday approved a plan for two utilities to develop replacement power to help fill the void left by the closure of the San Onofre nuclear power plant.

The talks could help resolve who pays for the shuttering of the San Onofre nuclear power plant.