Vibration from an earthquake shaking the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS) could cause sensors to malfunction that would prevent back-up emergency power from kicking on, plant operators concede. The latest problem is unrelated to the steam-generator tube wear that has kept the facility shut down since Jan. 31.
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The revelation about the sensor mechanism comes in a letter from Southern California Edison to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. It states excessive vibration would indicate to the sensors mechanical engine damage in the emergency diesel generators.
Edison engineers are currently analyzing the vibration sensor mechanism, according to the power giant.
There is still no timeline on when the plant will be ready to go back online, Edison adds.
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OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.