Southern California Edison (SCE) has completed additional inspections on unit 2 steam generators at the the San Onofre nuclear generating station (SONGS) in California, US, based on unit 3 findings.
SCE identified wear in two of the 19,454 tubes in the unit 2 generators on 11 April 2012.
The inspection at the unit 2 was similar to the type of wear that was previously seen in unit 3, the company claimed.
SCE senior vice president and chief nuclear officer Pete Dietrich said the company’s first priority is, and always has been, the health and safety of the public and its employees.
"Our commitment remains the same; the utility will only bring the units on line when we and the NRC are satisfied that it is safe to do so," Dietrich said.
After completing inspection, SCE has provided a letter to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to update the regulator on the ongoing unit 2 steam generator tube inspections.
Through the letter, SCE will also confirm the actions outlined in the NRC’s confirmatory action letter, which SCE received on 27 March.
The letter outlines actions SCE must complete at SONGS before seeking permission from the NRC to resume units 2 and 3.
SONGS’s unit 2 was taken out of service for a planned outage on 9 January 2012 and unit 3 has been shut down since 31 January 2012.