EDG investigation at San Onofre - SCE reported to NRC

Below is a press release from Southern California Edison, courtesy Jennifer Manfre, Senior Manager, Media Relations for SCE.  This release concerns an ongoing investigation into discrepancies found with one of the EDG or Emergency Diesel Generator units at San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station, Unit 3. 

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Southern California Edison Reports Backup Diesel Generator Issue to Nuclear Regulatory Commission


ROSEMEAD, Calif. (Nov. 29, 2012) — During routine monitoring in late October, San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS) personnel detected engine coolant in an oil system on a backup emergency diesel generator in Unit 3.

SONGS personnel notified the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) site inspector on Oct. 30 in compliance with all regulatory reporting requirements. Since Unit 3 is safely offline, defueled and not scheduled to restart in the near term, the presence of the coolant posed no safety risk. The diesel generator was out of service for routine maintenance activities when the discovery was made.

On Nov. 27, Southern California Edison (SCE), the primary owner of SONGS, notified the NRC that an internal investigation found evidence of potential tampering as the cause of this abnormal condition. The evidence did not confirm that actual tampering occurred. The investigation of this potential security issue continues.

The comprehensive investigation has included rigorous tests, a review of station logs and employee interviews to determine the cause of the presence of the residual engine coolant. Based on the unexpected discovery of the coolant in the diesel oil system and the ongoing investigation, security at the plant has been enhanced.

“SCE is committed to the safety of the public and its employees and takes this matter very seriously,” said Pete Dietrich, senior vice president and chief nuclear officer of SONGS.

SCE submitted technical information to the NRC on Oct. 4 in support of a proposed restart of Unit 2, which is also safely offline. The unit will not be restarted until all plans have been approved by the NRC. The Unit 3 restart was not included in that regulatory filing and remains shut down.
Unit 2 remains shut down since it was taken out of service Jan. 9 for a planned outage. Unit 3 was safely taken offline Jan. 31 after station operators detected a leak in a steam generator tube.
More information is available at www.edison.com/songsupdate and at www.SONGScommunity.com. San Onofre is jointly owned by SCE (78.21 percent), San Diego Gas & Electric (20 percent) and the city of Riverside (1.79 percent).

About Southern California Edison

An Edison International (NYSE:EIX) company, Southern California Edison is one of the nation’s largest electric utilities, serving a population of nearly 14 million via 4.9 million customer accounts in a 50,000-square-mile service area within Central, Coastal and Southern California.

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4:15 PM Eastern 11/30/2012
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